Legal Affairs and Civil Status Division

The Legal Affairs and Civil Status Division includes the following services:

• Legal Affairs and Litigation Service
• Administrative Police Service
• Civil Status Service
• Signature Certification Service

Legal Affairs and Litigation Service

On legal matters, this service is responsible for:

• preparing and drafting municipal regulatory orders;
• setting the legal framework for these orders;
• helping municipal services prepare and draft them;
• contributing to the legal handling of municipal files;
• providing legal advice to avoid any unlawful act;
• monitoring the approval of regulatory orders by the supervisory authority;
• overseeing the numbering and dating of approved orders;
• researching, gathering and keeping legal and regulatory references concerning the Municipality;
• organising a legal library for staff research and studies;
• storing, copying and digitising all legal references.

On litigation, it is responsible for:

• studying and monitoring court cases in which the Municipality is claimant or defendant, in coordination with the Municipality’s lawyer;
• gathering evidence for the defence, with the necessary documents, together with the relevant services;
• receiving summonses and claims from the courts;
• keeping the Council decisions authorising the President to bring legal action;
• monitoring defence, appeals and their follow-up;
• monitoring actions for abuse of power and urgent proceedings against the Municipality or its executive;
• obtaining copies of judgments promptly;
• monitoring the enforcement of final judgments with the relevant services;
• keeping the litigation register of all cases involving the Municipality;
• preparing annual litigation tables and sending them to the central authorities;
• monitoring damage caused by third parties to municipal property and taking steps to protect the Municipality’s rights.

Administrative Police Service

This service helps maintain public order, in accordance with the law and within the powers of the President of the Municipality.

Commercial, professional and industrial activities:

• regulating unregulated commercial and professional activities;
• inspecting commercial, professional and industrial activities;
• issuing licences for unhealthy, disruptive or hazardous establishments;
• issuing licences to open commercial, professional and industrial premises;
• issuing licences for industrial units;
• issuing early opening and late closing permits;
• issuing licences for premises in municipal markets;
• inspecting all places where hazardous products are made, stored or sold;
• enforcing regulatory orders on commercial, professional and industrial trades;
• taking individual decisions (bans, permits or orders) to stop violations;
• enforcing orders setting the conditions for private activities in order to protect public health and peace;
• supervising the municipal committees that inspect commercial, professional and industrial premises.

Occupation of municipal public property:

• regulating temporary occupation of public property by businesses;
• enforcing orders on the use of municipal property;
• taking individual decisions to combat unauthorised occupation;
• issuing temporary occupation permits for commercial, industrial or professional purposes;
• issuing permits for occupation by movable or fixed property linked to these activities;
• issuing kiosk permits.

Inspection:

• checking the legal status of commercial, professional and industrial premises and taking action against offenders;
• inspecting unhealthy, disruptive and hazardous establishments;
• checking for premises and industrial units opened without a licence;
• monitoring unauthorised occupation of public property;
• taking individual bans or orders against unauthorised occupation and unlicensed premises;
• supervising the census of commercial, professional and industrial premises;
• handling residents’ complaints and taking legal measures to stop nuisances.

Civil Status Service

This service ensures that civil status offices in all administrative annexes run smoothly, in accordance with the law. It is responsible for:

• organising civil status offices and bringing them into line with the legal framework;
• setting the legal framework for organising civil status offices in all annexes;
• ensuring that civil status officers and their assistants apply the civil status law, and supervising all office activities;
• coordinating the Municipality’s civil status offices;
• coordinating with the relevant external services: the Directorate of Legal Affairs, Studies, Documentation and Cooperation of the Ministry of the Interior; the Kénitra Province services; the provincial committee inspecting civil status offices; the court of first instance;
• monitoring the recording of civil status events (births, deaths, etc.) and the statistics required by the High Commission for Planning;
• monitoring declarations of birth and death, the registration and signing of certificates and marginal notes;
• checking that officers file and send declarations to the provincial civil status department;
• monitoring the registration of births and deaths;
• checking that registers and documents are properly kept so that they are not lost or damaged;
• monitoring the reconstitution of civil status registers in the interest of citizens;
• overseeing the enforcement of court rulings on reconstituting lost or damaged registers;
• checking duplicate registers sent to the province and those returned for correction.

Signature Certification Service

This service is the legal reference for the municipal signature certification offices. It is responsible for:

• organising and monitoring the work of the offices certifying signatures and true copies in the administrative annexes;
• ensuring that this work complies with the law;
• organising the recording of certifications and true copies in the registers of all districts;
• monitoring and checking certification registers;
• assigning tasks to certification agents;
• coordinating the Municipality’s certification offices.

All signature certification and true copy offices in the Municipality’s urban districts are monitored and supervised by the central certification service.