Morocco Imposes Tariffs on Tunisian School Notebooks to Protect Local Market

In a note, the customs department recalled the joint decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to fight against the dumping of notebooks from Tunisia. These Tunisian notebooks that flood the Moroccan market are sold at abnormally low prices, creating unfair competition with local producers.

To limit this dumping, Morocco had adopted in 2018 a measure consisting of imposing customs duties of 15.69 to 27.71% on imports of notebooks of Tunisian origin. This, after an investigation was opened in May 2017 following the complaint of three Moroccan notebook producers who considered that the Tunisian exports negatively affect the local industry.

In a statement to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, economist Ali Boutaiba explained that the measures related to dumping aim at the social, in particular the preservation of local jobs. "The World Trade Organization allows countries to use a safeguard clause if they believe that certain imports are seriously weakening the presence of local products on the market," he added.