On 9-10 May, 2023 the Africa project section of the IRZ organised a conference with the Moroccan Public Prosecutor's office in Rabat on the subject of “Protection of the Economic System and Competition”, thus continuing the cooperation with the Public Prosecutor's Office that has been ongoing for several years.
The aim of the conference was to support the Moroccan Ministry of Justice in its current reform efforts in the area of economic criminal law, in particular competition crimes and to boost investment promotion and investment protection in accordance with the “National Initiative for Human Development” sponsored by the King. The conference also focused on training the Public Prosecutor's Office in how to conduct practical investigations.
The conference opened with a general introduction to competition law in Morocco and Germany, also taking into account the special role of the Federal Cartel Office, presented by Mr. Jörg Nothdurft, Head of the Department for Litigation and Law at the Federal Cartel Office The experts from Germany and Morocco then discussed the criminal law aspects and the practical investigation. Here, Dr. Julian Kammin, Public Prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor's office in Cologne, emphasised the relevance of criminal offences that have a direct impact on competition. The second day of the event dealt with the cooperation of various actors, including the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Cartel Office in Germany or the Competition Council in Morocco, with respect to competition and other economic criminal proceedings. The civil law aspects of the topic, such as claims for damages, were also presented and discussed.
Various examples of case law in the area of competition in the German judiciary, the consideration of EU stipulations and international conventions aroused particular interest among the approx. 40 Moroccan attendees.
IRZ held a conference in Rabat from 30 November to 1 December 2022 with the Moroccan Ministry of Justice on the subject of “Alternative punishments and alternatives to pre-trial detention”. IRZ aimed to use this measure to focus on the current reform strategy of the Moroccan Judiciary, which, among others, gives high priority to the use of alternative punishments and the limitation of pre-trial detention in terms of its implementation and duration.
The project work of IRZ with the partner country Morocco has increasingly focused on supporting reforms in the area of criminal law and the penal system since the cooperation was launched in 2014.
The following experts attended for the IRZ:
Ulrich Bremer, Chief Public Prosecutor and Press Spokesperson, Cologne Public Prosecutor's Office
Pascal Décarpes, EU expert in criminal law
On the Moroccan side, the conference was opened by Mr. Hichem Mellati, Head of the Criminal Justice Department at the Moroccan Ministry of Justice.
Approx. 50 participants exchanged views with the experts on concepts and methods for implementing alternative punishments and alternatives to pre-trial detention and probation assistance. The German side first presented alternatives to pre-trial detention and then explained various penalties – in particular fines, (alternative) imprisonment, suspension of sentences and supervision of conduct. The second day of the event focused on the subject of probation services. The conditions for a suspended sentence, the review and the organisation of the probation service were presented. The participants reported on their experiences in Morocco in the subsequent discussions.
The two-day conference was generally characterised by intensive discussions and lively exchanges. The very active participation of the attendees demonstrated the great interest in the exchange of experiences between German and Moroccan colleagues. We are planning to hold further events on this topic in Morocco.
The event was financed by the Federal Ministry of Justice within the framework of institutional cooperation.
IRZ and the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHZ), the German lawyer’s association and the German Federal Bar organised symposium on the digitisation of the economic general jurisdiction and investment promotion and investment protection in Rabat (Morocco) on 12-13 December 2022, which received substantial support from the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ). The organisers and the representative from the Department for International Legal Cooperation at the BMJ, Ms Katharina Rupp, welcomed many high-ranking participants from the Moroccan judiciary and administration. The event was opened, among others, by Ms Sama Chokri, Ms Aziza Hindaz, Mr Khaled Idrissi and, representing the IRZ, by the Chief Executive Officer Dr Frauke Bachler.
The event started with an analysis by the approx. 100 participants of the German, Moroccan and Tunisian experiences and judicial requirements for promoting investment. The focus was also on the challenges and opportunities of digitisation. The speakers presented the respective legal frameworks for investment and investment protection based on the bilateral economic relations between Germany and Morocco. They stressed that all the professional groups in the judicial field must be involved to ensure efficiency and sustainability.
On the second day, participants discussed the various judicial and extrajudicial guarantees for foreign investment in interactive workshop formats. In the area of extrajudicial mechanisms, the German, Moroccan and Tunisian speakers presented mediation (also in online format), conciliation and arbitration (including electronic arbitration). The court process was discussed in particular with respect to the optimisation of the length of the process and to increase efficiency.
Speakers on the above topics were:
Halima Kethir, Head of Digitisation Programmes of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice
Abed El Wahed Safouri, President of the Court of Appeal for Economic Affairs in Casablanca
Prof Abdessalem Idrissi, Professor at Mohammed V University, President of the International Court of Mediation and Arbitration
Sadia Lamnouni, Head of the Economic Jurisdiction and Commercial Register
Zakaria Chafeai, Deputy Judge at the High Judicial Council
Younes Bouchelkha, Head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance
Younes Korbi, lawyer and arbitrator, Rabat Bar Association
Prof Dr Hatem Rouatbi, Head of the Research Laboratory on Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Faculty of Law in Tunis
Dr Larissa Thole, Head of the Mediation and Conciliation Division, Commercial Courts, Federal Ministry of Justice
Christian Schmitz-Justen, Vice President of the Cologne Higher Regional Court
Dr Christian Lemke, lawyer and Vice President of the German Federal Bar
Andreas Wenzel, CEO of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Morocco
Julia Heise, LL.M., lawyer and Vice President of the German Bar Association
In addition to the IRZ, the event was organised and financed by the aforementioned cooperation partners and the Federal Ministry of Justice as members of the Alliance for German Law.