Rabat – The Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Borders at Morocco’s House of Representatives has adopted a draft framework law. The law would allow for the establishment of an arms industry in Morocco.
The legal text, approved on Tuesday, July 14, relates to defense and security materials and equipment, including weapons and ammunition.
The framework law aims to regulate the manufacturing, trade, import, export, and transportation of the security equipment. It would do so through establishing an authorization system that documents, tracks, and controls these operations.
The text was first revealed during a Ministerial Council on Monday, July 6, where King Mohammed VI approved the draft.
Framework Law 10-20 includes 55 articles, updating legal texts regulating the trading of weapons and ammunition. The laws date back to the 1930s.
The project will allow for the building of units for the arms industry in Morocco. It would also allow the manufacturing of weapons through national operators, as well as foreign investors.
Manufacture and export conditions
The legal text sets the conditions and requirements for businesses that would envisage venturing into the arms industry in Morocco. The prioritized buyer of locally-manufactured weapons, according to the law, must be Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and security services.
The framework law also sets the requirement that the future businesses manufacturing weapons and ammunition in Morocco have Moroccan or mostly-Moroccan capital.
The recently-adopted text would also establish a national committee for supervising the authorizations given to arm manufacturers.
Finally, the law sets the conditions for selling, exporting, and transporting weapons to foreign customers, and penalties imposed on violators.
Punishments include prison sentences reaching 20 years and fines as high as MAD 5 million ($522,000).
After its approval by the House of Representatives, the framework law must pass through the House of Councillors before its final adoption.
Morocco’s Delegate Ministry for National Defense developed the law in collaboration with various Moroccan security and defense institutions.
