Morocco: Diesel has a bright future ahead of it

While importers and dealers of new cars welcomed the implementation of the European environmental standard Euro 6, for the approval of new vehicles sold on the Moroccan market, the government of Aziz Akhannouch decided to postpone it.

Initially set for January 2025, Morocco’s adoption of the European environmental standard Euro 6 for the approval of new vehicles marketed on the national market will not be effective until January 1, 2027. A draft decree has been submitted to the general secretariat of the government to this effect. The “Euro 6” standard is one of the alternatives found to combat environmental pollution and reduce toxic gas emissions from vehicles, especially heavy goods vehicles. Euro 6 aims to combat carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and particles. Thus, car manufacturers must integrate advanced technologies to reduce pollutant particle emissions from diesel vehicles, including “the use of diesel particulate filters, selective catalytic reduction systems, or NOx traps,” says Assabah. The ban on any new car that does not meet these requirements should therefore come into force from January 2027. Also, the registration of vehicles would only be subject to this requirement from January 2028, instead of January 2026.