As of August, companies that have charged their customers additional fees for online payment will restore the situation by eliminating these fees. The Competition Council had indeed called on these companies not to make their customers bear the cost of managing invoices.
This decision taken by the companies and various institutions concerned comes after the warning, twice, from the Competition Council which alerted on these abnormal practices.
In its second communication on the subject, the Competition Council invited meetings with the companies concerned in order to restore the situation. In a statement to MoroccoLatestNews, Council President Ahmed Rahhou said most public institutions and private companies have agreed to waive the fees they charge citizens when paying consumer bills electronically.
“The Directorate General of Taxes, water and electricity distribution companies, Maroc Telecom and private schools have all agreed to remove the fees they were charging” for e-payment, Rahhou explained.
The president of the institution also indicated that negotiations are underway to close the case next month with the banks. As for private schools, he gave until September for the rest of the schools to comply with the situation.
In a previous statement, Ahmed Rahhou had explained that millions of dirhams were thus unfairly taken from the pockets of Moroccans each time and without any justification through this method.
In particular, he announced a priority list of companies involved in these practices which covered up to 30 entities, stressing that this is a number which is changing rapidly.
As a reminder, the Competition Council had published a press release in mid-May, announcing that it had become aware of certain practices among companies operating in different economic sectors when paying invoices via the Internet by their customers, noting that the latter see themselves bear the cost of this service, in addition to the amount of invoices to be paid, whereas this service should, in principle, be free since online payment reduces the operating costs linked to the collection of invoices.