Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2005 Category 2: Morocco
Africa
Morocco
2005 Category 2 Winner
Decentralization and expansion of the quality monitoring
process for fruits and vegetables intended for export
Autonomous Establishment of Exports Control and
Coordination (EACCE), Morocco
Description
Quality monitoring process of fruits & vegetables for export by decentralizing
exports control.
The Problem
In a hyper-competitive liberalized trade environment there was a strong need for
companies involved in export from Morocco to reduce costs and delays of supplies,
and enhance the competitiveness of domestic products.
The Solution
With the creation of the Etablissement autonome de contrôle et de coordination des exportations
(EACCE) or the Autonomous Establishment for the Control and Coordination
of Exports, in 1986-1987, the quality control of fruit and vegetables intended for
export was confined to three regional centres in the port-cities of Casablanca, Agadir
and Nador. 800,000 to 900,000 tons of perishable products, provided by almost 500
processing plants, were shipped to these centres. Products that did not meet the quality
standards were either returned for re-processing at the plants, or simply rejected,
with the rate of rejection varying between 10% and 50%.
By 2002-2003, however, the number of regional centres had increased to 21 and the
rejection rate had been cut to zero. The additional transaction costs had been completely
eliminated with quality control of 100% of the exports taking place free-of
charge at the location of the processing plants.
With scientific support, a high tech network of laboratories and a reliable information
system that provides detailed information on export of produce and related products,
as well as trade regulation, the decentralized quality control system has managed to
reduce costs and delays of supplies thus enhancing the competitiveness of domestic
corporations. Recently, the European Union acknowledged that conformity with
marketing standards applicable to fresh fruit and vegetables had been attained by
granting EACCE the authority to perform checks prior to importing products to the
European Community.
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