Subject
The draft law aims to regulate the operation of observation stations, the National Climate Network, meteorological services, and the management of atmospheric data. It also sets out provisions for the establishment of the Moroccan Agency for Meteorology and Climate, a public institution tasked with implementing the State's strategy in this field.
Key provisions
- The operator of any observation station must declare to the Agency the start, suspension, or termination of its operation, within set deadlines.
- A National Climate Network is established; it mandatorily includes qualifying public-sector stations, and private stations may join it under an agreement.
- The Agency has exclusive authority to issue official weather forecast and warning bulletins intended for the public, and it is the official source of meteorological and climate information.
- Meteorological services are divided into reference services, provided only by the Agency, and value-added services, which must state that they are based on the reference services.
- Government departments and public institutions must rely on reference meteorological services when preparing or implementing plans, programmes, or projects requiring atmospheric data.
- Transitional provisions transfer staff, assets, and files from the General Directorate of Meteorology to the Agency, and the text sets out fines and, in certain cases, prison sentences for specified offences.
Context
The draft does not amend any specifically named legislative text, but it transfers to the Agency the functions of the General Directorate of Meteorology and the decentralised services of the ministry in charge of meteorology, and references to them in current texts are to be read as references to the Agency.