The Competition Council will start hearing from next week on companies imposing additional fees for paying invoices via the Internet, MoroccoLatestNews has learned from well-informed sources.
According to data obtained by MoroccoLatestNews, the Competition Council will hear about thirty companies that still continue to charge customers the cost of the online payment service. They will be required to provide justifications and reasons for these additional costs which, according to the institution, are “unjustified”.
These sources said that companies active in the telecommunications sector, water and electricity services and the financial sector are mainly affected by this practice, which has angered many Moroccans.
The same sources suggest that, at the end of June, the Competition Council will decide on this issue, after having heard the companies, some of which maintain that they do not benefit from these royalties and that they will be collected by the persons responsible for these digital services.
However, Ahmed Rahhou, president of the Competition Council, had revealed, in a previous statement to MoroccoLatestNews, that these companies had collected, through these practices, millions of dirhams monthly without any justification.
Rahhou had indeed stated that the Council has a priority list of companies involved in these practices, the number of which fluctuates between 20 and 30, and which is changing rapidly, emphasizing that the institution will write to them in order to put an end to this practice which affects the purchasing power of consumers.
As a reminder, the Competition Council noted, in a press release issued in mid-May, that these companies operating in different sectors of economic activity and allowing online payment for their services, make their customers bear the cost of this service. in addition to the invoice to be paid, noting that by resorting to electronic payment, these companies significantly reduce their operating and investment costs related to the collection of invoices.
It considered that this practice, which is not economically justified, is abusive and could distort free competition on the markets concerned by providing undue advantages to certain operators, allowing them to strengthen their positions on the market and this , to the detriment of consumers.