Morocco

Starting a Business in

Morocco

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Société à Responsabilité Limitée (SARL)
  • City: Casablanca

About This Topic

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Obtain a "Certificat Négatif", which registers the company name at the Regional Investment Center (CRI, Centre Regional d’Investissement)


1 day MAD 230 (MAD 210 + MAD 20 droits de timbres)
2 Deposit paid-in capital in a bank and obtain a bank receipt (attestation de dépot)

Paid-in capital remains frozen until the company formation is completed. Deposits must be accompanied by a copy of the bylaws and a “certificat négatif” from the bank.
1 day no charge
3 Legalize statutes at Mayor’s office (Commune)

The mayor’s office verifies the identity of the person signing the document.
1 day MAD 20/page + MAD 10
4 File documents with CRI to register with the Ministry of Finance for patent tax, with the Tribunal of Commerce, and for social security and taxation

The applicant downloads a single registration form (formulaire unique declaration de creation d’entreprise) from the Internet. With the completed form, the applicant files the following:
- “Certificat négatif” (original + 3 copies).
- Certificate of deposit (attestation de depot) (original + 1copy).
- Signed company statutes (at least five copies).
- Lease contract for company premises (contrat de bail) (two copies).
- Identity cards for managers (three copies).
- Notice to be published in the legal newspaper and in the Official Gazette (two copies).

The Centre Regional d’Investissement (CRI) centralizes the following procedures:
- Deposit of bylaws and registration at the Tribunal of Commerce and the Company Registrar.
- “Patente” tax number.
- Two announcements: in a legal journal and in the Official Bulletin.
- Declaration of fiscal existence.
- Social security affiliation.
- Legalization of legal books.

When submitting the form and all documents, the promoter includes the text for publication in both publications (that is, the legal newspaper and the Official Gazette). The text must be in Arabic and typed. The CRI coordinates the publication process. Although the announcement is published in the Official Gazette in 30 days, a receipt from submitting the publication is enough for filing the registration documents with the Tribunal of Commerce.

In about a week, the promoter receives the “patente,” the fiscal identification, the commercial registration certificate, legal books, and the social security registration (CNSS registration). As a new service, the entrepreneur can request to be notified by text message when the file is ready.
7 days 1% of capital, (at least DH1,000) + DH200 (registration fee) + DH 350 (registration at commercial registry) + DH 150 publication fee (DH 8-9/ line in business paper, DH4/ line bulletin officiel).
5 File a declaration with the economic office of the Préfecture (Service Economique de la Commune)

The company must file a letter of solicitation, a copy of the “patente,” a copy of the bylaws, and another application letter (for the second type of authorization), and a map of the establishment, installations, fire controls, waste treatment, and so forth. The Economic Office of the Prefecture assesses the company’s security and health conditions and its potential environment effects. The procedure can also be done at the CRI.
1 day no charge
6 Make company stamp


1 day MAD 200
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