Notification to the drawer of the protest shall be equivalent to an order to pay. The holder of the protested cheque may apply for an order on application authorizing him to have any conservatory seizure carried out against the signatories of the cheque. In the absence of payment upon expiry of a period of thirty days after the…
Commercial Code
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The presentation and protest of a cheque may be made only on a working day. Where the last day of the period granted by law for the performance of acts relating to the cheque and, in particular, for presentation or for drawing up the protest is a legal public holiday, that period shall be extended until the first working day fol…
The periods prescribed for cheques do not include the day serving as their starting point.
No day of grace, whether legal or judicial, shall be allowed, except in the cases provided for in article 291.
The delivery of a cheque in payment, accepted by a creditor, does not entail novation. Consequently, the original claim subsists, with all the guarantees attached thereto, until the said cheque is paid.
Between merchants and for commercial transactions, any payment of a value exceeding ten thousand dirhams must be made by crossed cheque or by transfer. Any failure to observe the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall be punishable by a fine the amount of which may not be less than six per cent of the value paid. The creditor and the debtor shall be jointly and severally liable for payment of that fine.
The drawer who issues a cheque not bearing the indication of the place of issue or without a date, the person who affixes a false date to a cheque, and the person who draws a cheque on a person other than a banking institution shall be punishable by a fine of six per cent of the amount of the cheque, provided that this fine may…
Any banking institution that issues to its customer blank cheque forms payable at its counter must, on pain of a fine of 100 dirhams per infringement, mention on each form the name of the person to whom that form is issued as well as the provisions of the third paragraph of article 371.
Any banking institution that refuses payment of a cheque drawn on its funds shall be required to deliver to the holder or his agent a certificate of refusal of payment, the particulars of which are fixed by Bank Al-Maghrib. Any banking institution that, having provision and in the absence of any opposition, refuses to pay a cheq…
Cheque forms shall be made available free of charge to holders of cheque accounts by the banking institution.
Any banking institution may, by reasoned decision, refuse to issue to the holder of an account cheque forms other than those delivered for a withdrawal of funds by the drawer from the drawee or for certification. It may at any time request the return of forms previously issued. There may be issued cheque forms crossed in advance…
Cheque forms, other than those delivered for a withdrawal of funds by the drawer from the drawee or for certification, may not be issued to the holder of an account or to his agent for ten years from a payment incident recorded in the name of the account holder for lack of sufficient provision, where the option of regularization…
The drawee banking institution that has refused payment of a cheque for lack of sufficient provision must require the account holder to return to all banking institutions of which he is a customer the forms in his possession and in that of his agents and to cease issuing, for a period of ten years, cheques other than those permi…
The tax fine that the account holder must pay in order to recover the possibility of issuing cheques is fixed as follows: 1° at 5% of the amount of the unpaid cheque or cheques that are the subject of the first injunction provided for in the
Where the payment incident is the act of the holder of a joint account with or without solidarity, the provisions of articles 311, 312 and 313 shall apply as of right to the account holders both in respect of that account and in respect of the other joint accounts as well as the individual accounts of the person responsible for the incident.
Shall be punishable by imprisonment of one to five years and by a fine of 2.000 to 10.000 dirhams, which fine may not be less than twenty-five per cent of the amount of the cheque or of the insufficiency of provision: 1) the drawer of a cheque who fails to maintain or constitute the provision for the cheque with a view to its pa…
In the cases provided for in the preceding article, the court may prohibit the convicted person, for a period of one to five years, from issuing cheques other than those that exclusively permit the withdrawal of funds by the drawer from the drawee or those that are certified. This prohibition may be declared enforceable by provi…
Shall be punishable by imprisonment of one month to two years and by a fine of 1.000 to 10.000 dirhams any person who issues cheques in disregard of the injunction addressed to him pursuant to article 313 or in violation of the prohibition pronounced pursuant to article 317. Shall be punishable by the same penalties any agent wh…
Shall be punishable by a fine of 5.000 to 50.000 dirhams: 1) the drawee who states a provision lower than the existing and available provision; 2) the drawee who contravenes the provisions obliging him to declare, within the same regulatory time limits, cheque payment incidents as well as the offences provided for in article 318…
The drawee must pay, notwithstanding the absence, insufficiency or unavailability of the provision, any cheque issued by means of a form that he delivered in violation of the provisions of articles 312 and 317 or by means of a form whose return he did not request in accordance with article 313 or by means of a form that he deliv…
The drawee who has paid a cheque notwithstanding the absence, insufficiency or unavailability of the provision shall, except in the case provided for in paragraph 2 of article 320, be subrogated to the rights of the holder up to the amount that he has advanced; for this purpose, he may have the absence, insufficiency or unavaila…
Banking institutions shall be required to declare to Bank Al-Maghrib, on pain of the fines provided for in article 319, any payment incident, within a time limit set by Bank Al-Maghrib. Bank Al-Maghrib shall ensure the centralisation of declarations of cheque payment incidents. Bank Al-Maghrib shall ensure the communication of t…
The acts punishable under articles 317 and 318 are considered, for the application of the provisions concerning recidivism, as constituting a single offence.
A suspended sentence may be granted only for prison sentences.
Where the drawer of a cheque without provision has constituted or completed the provision within twenty days of presentation, the prison sentence may be reduced or entirely waived, both in respect of him and in respect of all co-perpetrators or accomplices.
In the context of criminal proceedings brought against the drawer, the holder who has joined as a civil party is admissible to claim before the criminal court a sum equal to the amount of the cheque, without prejudice, where applicable, to any damages. He may nevertheless, if he prefers, bring an action for payment of his claim…
Without prejudice to the application of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to jurisdiction, the court of the place where the cheque is payable has jurisdiction over the offences provided for by this chapter.
This chapter in no way derogates from the provisions of the dahir of 29 chaoual 1344 (12 May 1926), as amended or supplemented, instituting a service of current accounts and postal cheques, nor from those of the dahir of 12 kaada 1348 (11 April 1930) ratifying the conventions and arrangements of the Universal Postal Union, signe…
Constitutes a means of payment, in accordance with the provisions of article 4 of the dahir having force of law No. 1-93-147 of 15 moharrem 1414 (6 July 1993) relating to the exercise of the activity of credit institutions and their supervision, any instrument which, whatever the medium or technical process used, enables any per…
The order or undertaking to pay given by means of a means of payment is irrevocable. Objection to payment may be made only in the event of loss or theft of the means of payment, or of judicial reorganisation or judicial liquidation of the beneficiary.
The penalties provided for in article 316 shall apply, in respect of the means of payment covered by this Title, to: 1) those who have counterfeited or falsified a means of payment; 2) those who, knowingly, have used or attempted to use a counterfeited or falsified means of payment; 3) those who, knowingly, have accepted to receive a payment by a counterfeited or falsified means of payment.
The provisions of article 317 are applicable to the means of payment provided for in the
Counterfeited or falsified means of payment shall be confiscated and destroyed. Confiscation of the materials, machines, apparatus or instruments which have served or were intended to serve in the manufacture of the said objects shall be ordered, except where they have been used without the knowledge of the owner. Book IV: Commercial contracts, general provisions
In commercial matters, proof is free. However, it must be adduced in writing where the law or the agreement so requires.
In matters of commercial obligations, joint and several liability is presumed. Title One: Security
There are two kinds of security: the pledge, which presupposes dispossession of the debtor, and non-possessory security. Chapter One: The pledge
The pledge constituted either by a merchant or by a non-merchant for a commercial act is governed by the general provisions of articles 1184 to 1230 of the dahir of 9 ramadan 1331 (12 August 1913) forming the Code of Obligations and Contracts and by the special provisions of Section One below. The commercial pledge may take the…
The pledge constituted either by a merchant or by a non-merchant for a commercial act is evidenced, both as against third parties and as against the contracting parties, in accordance with the provisions of article 334. The pledge in respect of negotiable securities may be established by a regular endorsement indicating that the…
In all cases, the privilege subsists over the pledge only insofar as such pledge has been placed and has remained in the possession of the creditor or of a third party agreed between the parties. The creditor shall be deemed to have the goods in his possession when they are at his disposal in his warehouses or vessels, at the cu…
In the absence of payment at maturity, the creditor may, within a period of seven days, after notification made to the debtor and to the third-party pledgor, if any, cause the objects given in pledge to be sold at public auction. Such sale shall be made by the clerk of the court of the place of the domicile of the creditor or of…
All deposits of goods in the general warehouses instituted by the dahir of 23 Chaabane 1333 (6 July 1915) shall be recorded by dated and signed receipts extracted from a stub register and delivered to the depositors. Such receipts shall state the name, profession and domicile of the depositor as well as the nature of the goods d…
The receipts and the warrants may be transferred by way of endorsement, together or separately. At any request of the holder of the receipt and of the warrant together, the goods deposited must be divided into as many lots as he shall deem fit and the original instrument replaced by as many receipts and warrants as there are lots.
The endorsement of the warrant separate from the receipt shall be equivalent to a pledge of the goods in favour of the transferee of the warrant. The endorsement of the receipt transfers to the transferee the right to dispose of the goods, subject to his obligation, where the warrant is not transferred with the receipt, to pay the claim secured by the warrant or to allow the amount thereof to be paid out of the price of the sale of the goods.
The endorsement of the receipt and of the warrant, transferred together or separately, must be dated. The endorsement of the separate warrant must, moreover, state the amount in principal and interest of the claim secured, the date of its maturity, and the name, profession and domicile of the creditor.
The first transferee of the warrant must immediately cause the endorsement to be transcribed on the registers of the warehouse together with the particulars accompanying it. Mention of this transcription shall be made on the warrant. Any transferee of a receipt and of a warrant may require the transcription, on the stub registers from which they are extracted, of the endorsement made in his favour.
The holder of the receipt separate from the warrant may, even before maturity, pay the claim secured by the warrant. If the holder of the warrant is not known, or if, being known, he does not agree with the debtor on the conditions under which the anticipated payment would be made, the sum due, including interest up to maturity,…
The warrant shall be payable at the general warehouse, unless the first endorsement indicates another domicile at the same place. In the latter case, the name of the domicile must also be written on the receipt and on the registers of the general warehouse. In the absence of payment at maturity, the holder of the warrant separat…
Upon presentation of the protested warrant, the administration of the general warehouse is bound to give the public officer charged with the sale all facilities to proceed therewith. It shall deliver the goods to the purchaser only upon production of the official report of the sale and against: 1) proof of payment of the privile…
The creditor shall be paid his claim out of the sale price directly and without judicial formality, by privilege and in preference to all creditors, with no deductions other than those of: 1) customs duties and other maritime taxes paid for the goods; 2) the costs of reception, sale, storage, insurance premiums and other costs f…
The holder of the warrant shall have recourse against the borrower and the endorsers only after having exercised his rights over the goods and in the event of insufficiency. The periods fixed by articles 196 et seq. for the exercise of recourse against the endorsers shall run only from the day on which the sale of the goods is c…