Morocco - Speeding up public service

91759 Morocco: Speeding Up Public Service July 1, 2002 Morocco's slow and bureaucratic system has become an impediment to economic growth and equitable development, denying people of an effective judiciary and creating barriers that make access to justice almost impossible for the most vulnerable groups. Aware of these obstacles, the Moroccan government approached the World Bank with a well-designed program focused on modernizing part of its legal framework. The $5.3 million project is not only the first to tackle such reform in Morocco, it is also 100 percent country-owned, with Bank support aimed at helping to translate the government's plans into concrete action. Although just signed in May 2001, the project has already taken off the ground and modern tools are expediting case handling. As a result, the Rabat and Casablanca commercial courts now transmit live case proceedings and registries of commerce procure documents in record time. The project is helping to draft a commercial arbitration code, while judicial personnel are taught business law, and law school curriculum is being updated. To make reforms accessible to the people, the government is conducting a mass media campaign, built around radio and press messages, and local registries of commerce are improving public information delivery. As a first step, each commercial court is setting up an information booth staffed by a lawyer who will provide free basic advice on judicial and legal commercial issues once a week. Updated: July 2002