Competition Council vs chartered accountants: “We’re not afraid to go to court”

Initially, the dispute between the Competition Council and the Association of Chartered Accountants was the subject of a summary procedure as part of an emergency procedure initiated by the Association to challenge its monetary sentence of 3 million dirhams (USD 300,000). At the end of October 2022, the Association of Chartered Accountants’ summary proceedings proved unsuccessful.

Subsequently, the professional association relaunched the battle on the merits, leading to thwwe decision handed down by the Rabat Court of Appeal on October 26, 2023. Once again, the Association’s request was rejected.

What does the Chairman of the Competition Council think of the situation? “This will certainly enrich the jurisprudence. In one case, the Association of Chartered Accountants’ opted for a settlement. In another, the Association of Chartered Accountants chose the legal route. Good for them. The regulator has never been afraid to go to court, even though we always encourage the use of settlement procedures”, said Ahmed Rahhou.

The Chair of the Council thus refers to “judicious legal analyses” to defend his positions, while drawing attention to an often-overlooked risk: “If a regulator’s decision is upheld in court, it opens the way for third parties to claim damages”. The dispute between phone carriers Maroc Telecom and Inwi before the Rabat courts is a reminder of this.

 “We always give priority to amicable settlement. Our aim is not to punish for the sake of punishing. Our aim is to put a stop to anti-competitive practices that harm the market and consumers. It is the future of the Moroccan economy that counts. A future that must be based on respect for the rules of competition law”, insists the president of the Competition Council.

The fate of the Association of Chartered Accountants is not completely settled. It can still refer the matter to the Court of Cassation, having argued, among other things, that it was acting in “good faith” in a case also involving the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Finance, and the General Secretariat of the Government, hence the intervention of the Kingdom’s Judicial Agency in the case as defendant for the Government and the Kingdom’s General Treasury, which demanded express payment of a public debt, in this case the three million dirham fine.

F.F.