All food products intended for human consumption

Projet d'arrêté du ministre de l'agriculture, de la pêche maritime, du développement rural et des eaux et forêts No. 466-23 relatif à l'enregistrement des établissements exportateurs de produits alimentaires vers le Maroc (Draft Order of the Minister for Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development, Water Resources and Forestry No. 466-23 on the registration of establishments exporting food products to Morocco) Language(s): French Number of pages: 6

The notified draft Order contributes to the implementation of Decree No. 2-10-473 of 7 chaoual 1432 (6 September 2011) implementing certain provisions of Law No. 28-07 on food safety, including Articles 48 and 75.

Article 48 specifies that, in order to guarantee that a primary product, food product or animal feed imported for sale in Morocco presents no risk to human or animal life or health, pursuant to Article 4 of Law No. 28-07, the importer of these products must, prior to their importation, ensure that they: (1) are from a country, zone or region not subject to sanitary or phytosanitary restrictions; (2) meet the hygiene and health requirements laid down in the above-mentioned Decree and other regulations specifically concerning the product or food product; (3) come from an establishment or company that has an HACCP self-control or equivalent system in place; and (4) are accompanied by documents or other certificates required by the regulations specifically concerning the product or food product and issued by the competent authority in the country of export, certifying that the products comply with existing laws and entail no risk for human or animal life or health.

In order to ensure that importers are able to fulfil the above-mentioned obligations, the notified draft Order provides for the creation of an ONSSA electronic platform for the registration of establishments that produce, process and store food products to be exported for sale on the Moroccan market.

The draft Order specifies the conditions and procedures for the registration of foreign establishments by the ONSSA so that they may export food products to Morocco, with a view to streamlining conformity control procedures upon importation to better protect human health, improve information for Moroccan consumers and food traceability, prevent food fraud and ensure that the products concerned come from establishments that have been registered based on their fulfilment of criteria to ensure food security, in line with the relevant regulatory provisions.

Accordingly, the notified draft Order lays down:

·        The procedures for registering establishments that export food products to Morocco and that fall under section III of the annex to the notified draft Order. The registration of these establishments must be approved by the competent authority responsible for food safety in the country in which they are based.

·        The procedures for registering establishments that export food products to Morocco, other than those that fall under section III of the annex to the notified draft Order. The registration of these companies does not need to be approved by the competent authority in the country in which they are based.

·        The conditions for withdrawing registration.