Consumer protection societies criticized what they described as “organized chaos” that “targets the purchasing power of citizens and vacationers, especially in beach cities and tourist areas”, denouncing “the repeated heights witnessed by the prices of a number of tourism services, the food and transportation sector and basic products during the summer season.”
The same authorities were surprised by the “government stumbling” despite the “continuous response” in activating its powers, which were authorized by Law 104.12 related to freedom of prices and competition, regarding “intervention in the event of prices witnessed an outrageous rise.” Many civil events are conceived that some services already reach this level and in a “provocative” manner for the consumer and “harmful” with its purchasing power.
At the same time, the same organizations called for “reviewing the requirements of the law to ensure sufficient clarifications regarding the actual mechanisms to facilitate public intervention in free markets”, explaining that the call “is not a equal so that the state puts the hand on the market but rather to ensure an ordinary walk that does not serve as a stabilization of the capabilities of Moroccans in front of the appearance of a growing demand for cheaper malfunction in external destinations.”
“Laws are not enough”
Ali Satur, President of the Moroccan Association for the Defense of Consumer Rights, said that “what we are witnessing today, from exaggerated and sometimes unjustified increases, reflects structural imbalances in the national market, and a clear shortcomings in activating monitoring, which opens the way for some exploiters to strike the principle of honorable competition, and exploiting seasonal demand to achieve unethical profits.”
Satur added, in his statement to Hespress, that “the time has come to reconsider the law of freedom of prices and competition, and to update him in a way that is consistent with the current economic and social transformations, and allowing the legalization of prices during the periods of tourism peak, similar to what is in force in a number of countries, through imposing ceilings or price limits for services.”
The spokesman stressed his same on “activating the regional and local monitoring devices in a proactive and continuous manner, not limiting it to formal seasonal campaigns, imposing strict penalties on violators, while publishing their regulations to the public in order to achieve the principle of transparency, and activating the roles of dirt authorities and collective councils in monitoring prices and managing beach spaces and associated public services.”
He also urged the consumer in front of what he described as “organized chaos” to “show a consumer culture to confront the outbreak of greed”, highlighting that “the association believes that the consumer protection is not achieved only through legal texts; but through a real political will, strict monitoring, and mature consumer culture that rejects blackmail and demands its rights.
“Beniwi”
Al -Madani Druze, head of the “Consumers” association, said that “the high cost has turned into a structural giving in the market,” noting that “the past months have witnessed a remarkable increase in the prices of most materials, which no longer raises surprise among citizens.”
Druze recorded that “the rise finds its justification in the law of freedom of prices and competition, which gives the seller the freedom to determine the price without regard to the social conditions or the purchasing power of consumers.”
The president of the “With Consumers” Association called for “reviewing this law by virtue of the many observations that were presented during its download,” considering that “the text does not actually open the door for discussion about the reasonable prices; rather, the seller is allowed to impose the price that he deems appropriate, regardless of the cost of production or the ability of the consumer to pay, especially in light of difficult conditions by the recognition of all actors, whether public, or properties.”
The authorized to Hespress confirmed that “the greatest fear this summer is the possibility of registering excessive increases again in the price of a number of basic services that the citizen needs to spend his summer vacation in appropriate circumstances,” noting that “the monitoring of prices is entrusted with the economic interests of the administration authorities; however, the actual impact is not clear, especially during the summer vacation period in which the demand rises and the prices rise abnormal.”
Druz warned to “the need to keep pace with the extent of respect for the mandatory publicity of the price list,” adding that “the reality reveals that many actors do not adhere to this procedure, by virtue of the desire to control prices in a manner that undermines the honorable competition, which exacerbates the suffering of the Moroccan consumer, who is in this fire every summer.”
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