Morocco Cracks Down on Plastic Bags with New Ban and Stricter Penalties

This project aims "to put in place a solid and flexible legal framework allowing the elimination of plastic bags," says government spokesman Mustapha El Khalfi at the end of the Council of Government meeting held on Thursday.

According to Khalfi, the text "includes new definitions (raw plastic material and semi-finished plastic material), as well as new articles aimed at controlling the manufacturer’s activity through a declaration filed with the ministry in charge of industry to inform it of the nature of the activity carried out".

It is also a question of "restricting the trade of certain plastic bags between the manufacturer, the importer and the user, strengthening transparency between the persons in charge of control and those controlled, extending the recidivism period from six months to five years, increasing certain penalties and putting in place others, in addition to depriving offenders of mitigating circumstances".