Right of withdrawal in Morocco: what law 31-08 requires

A customer orders from your landing page, pays the courier, then calls back a few days later: “I’ve changed my mind, I’m sending it back.” Can you say no? The answer is not in your returns policy. It is in law 31-08 on consumer protection measures, whose Title IV deals with distance selling and, as the law firm CMS sums it up, sets the information duties and withdrawal periods that apply to it. This guide walks through the chapter on contracts concluded at a distance, article by article, from the point of view of a store that sells cash on delivery (COD).

Quotations come from the text of the law published on WIPO Lex and from the Official Bulletin text posted by ONSSA. This piece covers your legal obligations; for measuring and cutting returns as an operational problem, read our guide to the COD return rate in Morocco. It explains the law and is not a substitute for a lawyer’s advice on your case.

Does the law apply to your store?

Yes, whenever the order is concluded without you and the customer being in the same place. Article 25 defines a distance communication technique as any means used to conclude a contract between a supplier and a consumer without both parties being present at the same time, and calls anyone using the internet for a professional or commercial activity a cyber-merchant. A landing-page form, an online cart, an order taken over the phone or by message: all of these fit the definition. The chapter has no exception for cash on delivery.

Article 26 applies the rules to anyone who sells at a distance or offers a product by electronic means. It adds a rule many sellers miss: the supplier is liable as of right for performing the contract, whether the obligations are carried out by the supplier or by other service providers. Toward the customer, a parcel that the delivery company damages or delivers late is still your problem; you keep a claim against the carrier. You are only cleared if you prove the failure comes from the customer, from an unforeseeable and insurmountable act of a third party, or from force majeure.

Finally, article 44 declares the chapter a matter of public order, which means your terms and conditions cannot opt out of it. A “no returns, no exchanges” line on an online store does not remove the right of withdrawal where the law grants it.

Before the order: what the offer must state

Article 29 lists what every distance-selling offer must contain, on top of the law’s general information duties. For a COD store, the items that matter are:

• the main characteristics of the product;
• your name or company name, phone details that let the customer actually reach you, your e-mail address and your physical address;
• for a cyber-merchant, the trade register number and share capital if registration applies, and the tax identification number if the business is subject to VAT;
• where relevant, delivery times and delivery fees;
• the existence of the right of withdrawal under article 36, except where the law excludes it;
• payment and delivery terms, and how long the offer and the price remain valid.

The same article requires you to recall the customer’s choices before the contract is concluded and let them confirm or change the order. Article 30 requires your contract terms to be easy to reach, from the home page of the site or from any medium that carries the offer, and to be expressly accepted by the consumer before the order is confirmed. A tick box under the order form, linking to readable terms, is the simplest way to be able to prove it.

On the phone, article 31 requires you to state your identity and the commercial purpose of the call at the start of the conversation. Build that into your Darija confirmation call scripts: the first sentence names the store and the order.

These are not suggestions. Article 177 fines breaches of articles 29, 30 and 32 from 1,200 to 10,000 dirhams, doubled for a repeat offence, and article 180 fines breaches of article 31 from 1,200 to 25,000 dirhams.

At delivery: the written confirmation

Article 32 is the one COD stores forget most often. The consumer must receive, in writing or on another durable medium, in good time and at the latest at delivery:

• confirmation of the information required by articles 3, 5 and 29, unless you already provided it before the contract was concluded;
• the address of the establishment where complaints can be made;
• information on the conditions and practical steps for exercising the right of withdrawal;
• information on after-sales service and commercial guarantees.

The same article bans surcharges on phone numbers used for following an order or making a complaint, and says the customer must be able to follow the order and exercise the right of withdrawal by any means of communication without extra cost.

Two things ride on this. First, without that written confirmation, the withdrawal period goes from seven days to thirty (see the next section). Second, article 34 puts the burden of proof on the supplier, in particular for providing the article 29 information, confirming it, meeting deadlines and obtaining the consumer’s consent; any agreement to the contrary is void. A printed sheet in every parcel, with your contact details, the complaints address and how to withdraw, plus a record of which version went out and when, is the simplest way to prove the information reached the customer by delivery at the latest.

The withdrawal period: seven days, or thirty

This is the core of the chapter. Under article 36, the consumer has:

• seven days to exercise the right of withdrawal;
• thirty days if the supplier did not confirm in writing the information required by articles 29 and 32.

The customer withdraws without giving a reason and without paying a penalty, except return costs where applicable. The reason does not matter: a change of mind is enough. The periods run from receipt of the goods (or acceptance of the offer for a service), not from the order date. For a COD store, the date that counts is the actual delivery date, the one in the carrier’s tracking. Article 36 says “seven days” with no further detail, while article 38 speaks of “seven clear days” for services, so when in doubt, count generously.

The law leaves return costs to the customer “where applicable”. To charge them without an argument, say so plainly in your terms and on the sheet handed over at delivery. One exception: if you delivered a substitute product of equivalent quality and price, which article 41 only allows if that possibility was stated before or in the contract, the return costs that follow a withdrawal are yours.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade sums the right up on its consumer protection page: in certain cases, the law gives consumers a withdrawal period of seven days.

Refunds: 15 days at most

Once the customer withdraws, article 37 requires the supplier to refund the total amount paid without delay, and at the latest within 15 days of the date the right was exercised. After that, the sum owed bears interest at the legal rate. The text refers to the total amount paid and only allows a deduction for return costs, so the safe course is to refund the delivery fee charged with the order as well.

With COD, the difficulty is practical: the customer paid the courier in cash, and you have neither a card nor an account to refund. Decide in advance how you will pay refunds (bank transfer, money transfer, cash against a receipt) and ask for the customer’s details as soon as they announce the withdrawal, so the 15 days do not run out while you wait for a bank account number. Keep a dated record of every refund: in a dispute, the burden of proof is yours.

A second refund deadline applies when the ordered product is unavailable: article 40 requires you to tell the customer and, where relevant, refund them within fifteen days of payment at the latest. Refusing to refund under articles 37 and 40 is fined by article 178 at 1,200 to 50,000 dirhams, doubled for a repeat offence.

Products excluded from withdrawal

Article 38 rules out withdrawal, unless the parties agree otherwise, for contracts covering:

• services whose performance began, with the consumer’s agreement, before the end of the seven clear days;
• products or services whose price depends on fluctuations in financial markets;
• goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised, or goods that by their nature cannot be sent back or are likely to deteriorate or expire quickly;
• audio or video recordings or software, once unsealed by the consumer;
• newspapers, periodicals and magazines.

For a COD catalogue, the third category is the one that usually applies: a garment embroidered with the customer’s name or a perishable food item may fall under it. A standard product sold as is does not. The text creates no general exception for opened hygiene products or cosmetics, so if you sell them, do not assume they are excluded without legal advice.

Article 42 also sets aside articles 29, 32, 36 and 37 in two cases: everyday goods delivered to the home or workplace by distributors on frequent, regular rounds, and accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services supplied on a set date or schedule. Neither describes a typical online store.

Refusal, withdrawal, defect: three different situations

In a COD store, the word “return” covers situations the law treats differently:

1. Refusal at the door. The customer does not pay and the parcel goes back. The distance-contract chapter does not address it, and the article 36 period only starts on receipt. It is a commercial problem, handled through confirmation and the quality of the offer, which is what our guide to the COD return rate covers.
2. Withdrawal after delivery. The customer paid, received the product and changes their mind within the article 36 period. You must take the product back and refund within 15 days.
3. A defective product. This is not a withdrawal but the legal warranty. Article 65 applies the Code of Obligations and Contracts warranty against defects in the thing sold to consumer sales; for movable goods, a court action must be brought within the year following delivery, and the contract cannot shorten that period.

Delivery time is regulated too. Unless agreed otherwise, article 39 requires the order to be carried out within thirty days at most from the day you confirmed receiving it, and article 179 fines a failure from 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams.

Keeping these cases apart in your records pays off at once: a refusal needs no refund, a withdrawal needs one within a legal deadline, and a defect opens the warranty.

Who enforces the law, and where customers complain

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, sworn investigators work out of its 29 provincial delegations, and a control unit for merchant websites checks advertisements against law 31-08. The ministry also runs the khidmat-almostahlik.ma portal, where consumers ask questions and report facts that fall under the law. A customer refused a withdrawal does not need a lawyer to complain.

The text may change. In March 2025, the socialist group in the House of Representatives filed a bill that would give consumers 15 days to withdraw when they find a defect not mentioned in the product description, by adding to article 36 and deleting the second paragraph of article 38. It was a proposal, not an adopted law: check where it stands before relying on it.

The compliance checklist

1. Publish terms and conditions reachable from the home page and the order form, with an acceptance box before the order is submitted (articles 29 and 30).
2. Show real contact details: a phone number that answers, an e-mail address, a physical address and, where applicable, the trade register and tax numbers.
3. State the seven-day right of withdrawal in the offer, and say who pays for the return.
4. Open every confirmation call with the store’s name and the purpose of the call (article 31).
5. Put a printed sheet in every parcel: contact details, complaints address, how to withdraw, after-sales service (article 32). If it is written in French, add the Arabic version: article 206 requires any document written in a foreign language to come with its Arabic translation.
6. Record the delivery date of every order: it starts the clock.
7. Decide how COD customers get refunded, and refund within 15 days.
8. Track refusals, withdrawals and defect returns separately.
9. Keep the evidence: acceptance of terms, confirmation exchanges, sheets handed over, refunds (article 34).

Where Cashod helps

Cashod does not write your terms and conditions and does not replace a lawyer. It covers the operational side of the checklist. Cashod includes a call center where your agents confirm COD orders by phone, and it can confirm orders over WhatsApp, including with an AI agent; that is the moment to remind the customer of the order and your terms. Cashod also tracks returned parcels, with each carrier’s delivery and return fees set per city.

In short: inform before the order, confirm in writing by delivery at the latest, accept withdrawals for seven days from receipt, and refund within 15 days. The rest of the chapter follows from those four habits.