Moroccan businesses dissatisfied with public information reliability

2008-12-31

Public information is usually an invaluable resource for businesses, providing background on everything from regulatory law to taxation. According to a new study, however, Moroccan companies find the information to be incomplete, unhelpful or slow to arrive.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 31/12/08

[Imane Belhaj] According to a study presented by Said Essoulami, executive director of the Centre for Media Freedom, Moroccan companies are dissatisfied with the quality of information received from public authorities.

At a press conference in Casablanca on Monday (December 22nd), Said Essoulami, executive director of the Centre for Media Freedom - Middle East and North Africa, presented the results of a 2008 field study conducted on "Moroccan Enterprises and Obtaining Information in the Possession of Public Authorities".

The study, the first of its kind, surveyed 300 enterprises in seven economic sectors. Researchers looked at how enterprises obtain information from the public sector, as well as the obstacles they face.

"The enterprises basically requested seven types of information: statistics; information on taxes and duties; information on public tenders; information on opportunities provided by economic agreements between Morocco and foreign countries; sectoral studies and reports; information on assistance and loans; and information on legislations" explained Essoulami.

The study indicated that enterprises were dissatisfied with the quality of information received from public authorities. A whopping 91.70% of the surveyed enterprises were of the opinion that the information received was incomplete; 77.30% believed it was not given on a timely basis; 70% said it was not useful; 50.30% considered it unreliable; and 48.70% considered the information unusable.

"The surveyed Moroccan enterprises reported many difficulties," he added. These included "difficulty in identifying the source, late acquisition or unavailability of information, [and] absence of people charged with the delivery of information in the relevant locations." Essoulami continued, "The authorities don’t provide any type of services to identify the source of information, in addition to the slow and high cost of processing applications for obtaining information."

"Morocco needs to adopt a law guaranteeing the right to obtain information from the state," Essoulami said. "Over 80 countries, including Jordan, had such legislation, and Egypt and Bahrain are discussing its adoption."

"The field study," Essoulami stated, "indicated that Moroccan enterprises were aware of the pressing need to adopt [such] a law." This, he added, "would enable public authorities to not only organize their information to make it accessible to Moroccan enterprises, but would also make the employees more responsible and cooperative regarding the enterprises’ requests. This would help in gradually overcoming the difficulties facing the enterprises when they request information."

Essoulami expressed his regret that professional associations in Morocco, foremost among which is the General Confederation of Moroccan Businesses, did not include in their demands the enactment of legislation guaranteeing the right to access information.

The study showed that 99.64% of enterprises view the right to access information as necessary for the good management of their ventures. Only one enterprise was of the opinion that such legislation was not necessary, while 25 enterprises out of the 300 abstained from responding.

"Public authorities have to organize the enterprises’ access of information in a good way," said Hassan B., owner of a small and medium sized enterprise working in the service sector. The authorities must also "disseminate all the appropriate information on their electronic websites."

"The state has to qualify administrative cadres … in charge of communication to provide a better response to enterprises’ requests," stated Moustapha G., manager of a small family business. "The ministries and public authorities have to adopt more transparency regarding the dissemination of information."

"The lack of information would usually lead to missing opportunities," said businessman Jaouad Chkib. "For instance, [enterprises] may be not aware of tax exemptions and how to benefit from them, may also miss the opportunity to take part in a tender; and may not be aware of the assistance and loans they can benefit from."

A source in the tax directorate who refused to identify himself said that enterprises were somewhat exaggerating. He noted that "his directorate usually conveys all the tax law developments adopted by the fiscal law each year". For instance, he added, "the fiscal law would be promulgated and circulated on a daily basis in newspapers until its ratification."

An anonymous source at the Ministry of Foreign Trade concurred. "International economic agreements are not hidden from enterprises," he stated. "The government would first discuss such agreements and would then publish in the official gazette, i.e. the information in this field is readily available."