Morocco’s Customs and Excise Administration (CEA) emphasized positive results in its 2024 annual report, with customs revenues reaching a record MAD 144.8 billion, up 9.2% from the previous year.
Clearance times also improved significantly, with imports processed 1 hour and 26 minutes faster, allowing 64% of declarations to be cleared in less than 4 hours, despite a 7.1% rise in total declarations, which surpassed 2 million for the first time.
The report highlighted that the CEA contributed to the success of the 2024 Marhaba operation, welcoming nearly 3.7 million Moroccan citizens abroad and other travelers, and processing 447,670 vehicles at the Kingdom’s entry points.
“Control efforts in 2024 resulted in exceptional results,” according to the same source, with additional revenue exceeding MAD 6.2 billion, thanks to intelligence gathering, risk analysis, team vigilance, and the use of new technology, leveraging both customs data and information from national and international partners.
Operational services’ fight against smuggling and illicit trafficking led to seizures worth MAD 284 million, including 750 kg of hard drugs, 38 tons of cannabis resin, 5.64 tons of muassel, and 1.8 tons of raw tobacco, marking a sharp increase from 2023.
The report also highlighted that customs acted intensively against currency trafficking and money laundering as well, seizing MAD 167 million in foreign currency, up from MAD 105 million in 2023.
It added that a total of 43,976 litigation cases were recorded in 2024, representing a 4% increase compared to 2023, excluding cases of temporary admission of vehicles.
As for customer relations, the average query processing time is 1.44 days, and the user satisfaction rate is 79.5%.
Also, 66 companies out of a total of 681 have been granted the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) label.
Customs had 6,379 agents as of December 31, 2024, 26% of whom were women, with an average of 7.8 days of continuing training per agent.
Technology-based control:
In 2024, technological targeting of commercial operations detected nearly MAD 34 million in evaded duties and taxes, up from MAD 24 million in 2023, with MAD 20 million recovered and MAD 14 million collected as transactional fines.
The results, according to the report, show the system’s ability to adapt to emerging fraud while speeding up clearance for trustworthy shipments.
The exploitation of data for 2024 resulted in MAD 5.39 billion in additional revenue from duties and taxes reassessed on value, compared to MAD 4.07 billion in 2023.
An additional MAD 206 million was generated in revenue paid by operators for duties and taxes on royalties, which is a decrease from MAD 243 million in 2023.
1,540 fraud reports were processed in 2024 using the IT functionalities of the BADR system, an increase from 1,173 in 2023.
The report highlighted that the rule engine integrated into the BADR system added 434 new rules in 2024, contributing to an import selectivity rate of 20.4% and an export rate of 8.9%.
As for passenger control, 13,017 cases were recorded in 2024, with duties and taxes rising to MAD 137.77 million, up from 97.6 million, and fines to MAD 82.7 million, up from 57.8 million, both significantly higher than in 2023.
Fighting smuggling:
Seizures of smuggled cigarettes also saw a significant decrease of almost 58% in 2024, with 254,388 units seized compared to 438,784 in 2023.
Other tobacco seizures included 1,042 kg of ground tobacco, 1,778 kg of leaf tobacco, and 5,640 kg of Muassel.
Customs also seized 38 tons of cannabis resin, up from 21 tons in 2023, 750 kg of hard drugs, up from 261 kg, and 454,368 psychotropic tablets, up from 361,572.
The 2024 Customs performance, the report reads, reflected efforts to improve the business environment for economic operators and investors through simplification.
The CEA continued to digitalize administrative procedures, including applications for origin certificates, management of warehouse regime licenses, and declarations of precious metals, while optimizing internal processes to reduce travel, costs, and delays, fostering greater transparency and competitiveness.
Tailored support and adapted procedures were provided for new logistics infrastructure projects, notably industrial acceleration zones, while institutional partnerships were strengthened through secure, computerized data exchange channels.
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