Allow Citizens to Comment on Draft Legislation (MO0020)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
Listening to citizens, taking into consideration their proposals, their ideas,
their remarks on the draft laws and proposals.

What does the commitment consist of?
Publish bills which are subject to the legislative procedures to allow citizens
to comment on them. The objective being to ensure the participation as well
as the engagement of citizens in the legislative processes.

How shall the commitment contribute to solving the public problem?
This is an initiative which is meant to enrich and improve the quality of
legislation, while partly guaranteeing the adherence and engagement of the
citizen in the building process of the Rule of Law. An institution which
respects the citizens and can only be respected and respectable.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
The accession and the engagement of the citizens in the decision making
and legislative process.

20. Engagement of citizens in the legislative processes (Commitments of the Lower House of the Parliament of Morocco)

Substantial:

This commitment aimed at publishing bills and proposals that are subject to the legislative procedures, in order to allow citizens to comment on them, as well as compiling such comments and suggestions and presenting them to the parliamentary groups and committees during the legislative procedure, and finally creating a system to respond to citizens. [221] According to the action plan, the objective is to ensure the participation and engagement of citizens in legislative processes.

Mohammed Doukha, General Councilor in the House, [222] explained that Morocco does not have a formal public consultation procedure on draft laws before their introduction in Parliament. However, the constitution establishes this right to participate. He added that the House’s new website, [223] launched on 7 January 2020, publishes all draft legislation and provides the possibility for every citizen or organization to submit proposals and opinions on every piece of draft legislation. According to Doukha, the House has created an internal organization to present the submitted proposals and opinions to the members, and the parliamentary groups and committees concerned. So far, some proposals from citizens, which were received through the website, have been adopted by the House as a legislative text, according to Doukha, but the IRM did not receive specific examples. [224]

Ayoub Touati from the civil society organization Sim Sim, [225] commented that the House’s efforts toward opening parliament were significant. According to him, building and launching a new website for the House improved access to information and public participation through the publication of draft legislation and the possibility of submitting comments and proposals. However, so far, citizen engagement is lower than expected, and efforts like Sim Sim’s to gather peoples’ grievances and combine them into a technical document presented to members of parliament, are having a greater impact. [226] Looking forward, Parliament should work toward international best practices by engaging the public before legislation is drafted. This could include forming working groups and inviting experts and affected stakeholders to parliamentary committee meetings.