Morocco — agent-bev Library

Market status

Licensed. Private operators may trade beverage alcohol, but the channel is licence- and authorisation-based: bottle trading requires prior local administrative authorisation, on-premise alcohol premises require a licence, food import and establishment controls are handled by the Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits Alimentaires (ONSSA), and wine and spirits wholesale have separate ONSSA approvals.

Sources

Who can trade

Import: Importers use the Moroccan import-title system through PortNet. Goods free to import use an engagement d’importation; goods subject to authorisation use a licence d’importation sent through PortNet for ministry visa. Food products, including beverages, are subject to ONSSA sanitary import control, conformity with food-safety rules and official sanitary documents from the country of origin where required.

Wholesale and distribution: Trading alcoholic or alcoholised drinks by bottle requires prior authorisation from the local administrative authority after consultation with police or gendarmerie services. Food-sector establishments and undertakings, other than retail and collective catering, require ONSSA sanitary approval or authorisation before operation. Wine wholesale or half-wholesale is subject to ONSSA approval after favourable prefectural or provincial opinion. Distillation, manufacture, bottling and wholesale or half-wholesale of eaux-de-vie and spirit drinks require ONSSA authorisation after favourable prefectural or provincial opinion. Beer and cider wholesale-specific authorisations beyond the general alcohol and food rules: Not yet sourced.

Business-to-business (B2B) online sale: Moroccan electronic-contract law recognises contracts concluded or transmitted electronically and allows electronic offers and professional information, but the online channel does not replace the alcohol, food, import, customs or local permissions applicable to the underlying transaction. Specific independent B2B platform, broker and payment-intermediary treatment: Not yet sourced.

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Customs and duty

Tariff headings: Beer: 2203. Beer made from malt. Wine: 2204. Wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wine; certain grape must. Cider: 2206. Other fermented beverages, including cider, and qualifying mixtures. Spirits: 2208. Certain undenatured ethyl alcohol, spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

Import duty: Morocco’s customs tariff comprises Harmonized System (HS) positions and subpositions and the applicable duty rates. Unless the Customs Code or an agreement provides otherwise, imported goods are liable to the import duties entered in the tariff, independently of other taxes. The Assistance au Dédouanement des marchandises à l’Importation en Ligne (ADIL) portal is the official tool for customs duties, taxes, mandatory documents, applicable standards and preferential advantages. A four-digit heading alone does not establish payable duty.

Excise: The Taxe intérieure de consommation (TIC) applies to imported or locally produced categories including beer, wines and alcohols. It is liquidated and collected as for customs duties. Imported and domestically produced goods in the covered categories bear the same quotas. Liability arises at importation for foreign goods and at production for goods produced in the taxable territory; the customs declarant, principal and any guarantor can be liable. Where taxation depends on the taxable content, the content is determined by the laboratory designated by the finance minister.

Territorial treatment: The customs territory is the national territory including territorial waters. The taxable territory excludes industrial acceleration zones. Entry from abroad or from an industrial acceleration zone into the taxable territory is treated as importation; release for consumption requires payment of applicable duties and taxes and completion of customs formalities.

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Labelling

Required language(s): Mandatory food information must be in Arabic; one or more other languages may also be used. The agriculture minister may exempt certain imported products, products for a particular clientele and certain locally made beverages from Arabic labelling.

Mandatory warnings: Product-dependent statements apply, including sweetener, aspartame, polyol, liquorice and other supplementary statements listed in the labelling decree. A mandatory general alcohol-health or pregnancy warning: Not yet sourced.

Alcohol strength: Prepacked beverages above 1.2% alcohol by volume must indicate acquired alcoholic strength by volume. For wine, bottle labels must also show the alcoholic degree and the denomination under which the wine is sold.

Ingredients, nutrition and allergens: Beverages above 1.2% alcohol by volume are exempt from the general ingredient-list and nutrition-information requirements, but allergen or intolerance substances remain mandatory. Where there is no ingredient list, the indication uses “contains” followed by the allergen. Sulphur dioxide and sulphites are listed above 10 milligrams per kilogram or litre, expressed as total sulphur dioxide.

Origin and responsible operator: Prepacked products require the country of origin or place of provenance and the food-business details required by the decree, including importer details for imported products under the current amended text.

Wine particulars: Ordinary Moroccan and foreign wine blends must be sold with the indicated “vin de coupage” statement and the prescribed domestic/imported indication where applicable. Appellation claims must meet the separate wine-appellation rules.

Label registration for alcoholic beverages: Not yet sourced.

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Age and sale limits

Legal purchase age: Not yet sourced.

Minor-access rule: The alcohol-trade order uses a 16-year threshold for minors. Licensed drinking premises may not admit unaccompanied minors in that threshold category, and a licensed establishment may not sell or supply alcoholic or alcoholised drinks free of charge to minors in that threshold category.

Customer-channel limit: A licensed establishment may not sell or supply alcoholic or alcoholised drinks free of charge to Moroccan Muslims.

Sale-hour and place limits: Licence holders must observe opening and closing hours fixed by the local administrative authority. The local administrative authority may prohibit bottle sales in specified areas or neighbourhoods and in defined perimeters near religious places, cemeteries and military, hospital or school establishments. Detailed local or regional sale-hour rules and regional layers: Not yet sourced.

Credit sale: Retail credit sale of alcoholic or alcoholised drinks is prohibited.

Sources

https://adala.justice.gov.ma/api/uploads/2024/02/07/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9%20%D8%A3%D9%88%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%85%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%A9%20%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%84%20%E2%80%93%20%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%8A%D9%85%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1-1707300776400.pdf

Protected names

Protection framework: Morocco’s general law on distinctive signs of origin and quality covers food, agricultural and fisheries products through geographical indications and appellations of origin, but it expressly excludes vitivinicultural products and spirit drinks, except vinegar and table grapes. Wines follow the separate vitivinicultural appellation regime.

Verified wine examples: Appellation d’Origine Garantie (AOG) examples include Berkane, Angad, Sais and Guerrouane. Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) examples verified by ONSSA include Les Coteaux de l’Atlas, Crémant de l’Atlas and Les Côtes de Rommani. These examples are not exhaustive.

Protected spirit, beer and cider names: Not yet sourced.

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GTIN authority

Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) member organisation: GS1 Maroc, the Association Marocaine de Codification & de Numérotation des Articles. GS1 Maroc identifies itself as Morocco’s GS1 member and as the official organisation for issuing GTIN bar-code numbers.

Sources

Not yet sourced

Broader legal purchase age beyond the sourced 16-year minor threshold; detailed local or regional sale-hour rules; beer and cider wholesale-specific authorisations beyond general alcohol and food rules; independent B2B platform, broker and payment-intermediary treatment; label registration for alcoholic beverages; mandatory general alcohol-health or pregnancy warning; protected spirit, beer and cider names: Not yet sourced.