Commercial Register in Morocco: RC and registration

Want to register your company or check a business's Commercial Register in Morocco? The Commercial Register is the founding act giving your business legal existence—without it, no business bank account, contracts or compliant invoicing. This guide explains what the RC is, who must register, how to get your number, its cost and how to consult or amend it online.

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What is Morocco's Commercial Register?

The Commercial Register (RC) is the official directory in which every individual or legal entity conducting commercial activity in Morocco must register. Governed by Law 15-95 establishing the Commercial Code, it operates at two levels: local registers held by the registries of commercial courts and a Central Register managed by OMPIC, the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property, which consolidates information from courts throughout the Kingdom.

Registering with the RC formally recognises your business's legal existence. This number appears on your invoices and contracts and in dealings with banks, suppliers, customers and the administration.

For a company such as SARL or SARL AU, RC registration also grants legal personality: before registration, the company has no legal existence, even if its articles are signed.

Who must register with the RC?

The registration requirement applies to several categories, all sharing a legal deadline of three months from the start of activity or company formation.

Commercial companies

Every SARL, SARL AU, SA, SNC or other commercial company must register before starting its activity. This is mandatory after obtaining the negative certificate and signing the articles.

Individual traders

Every individual professionally conducting a commercial activity—trade, commercial crafts or commercially oriented services—is also subject to this requirement within the same three-month period.

The case of auto-entrepreneurs

Auto-entrepreneurs, by contrast, are expressly exempt from RC registration. They come under a separate register, the RNAE (National Auto-Entrepreneur Register), managed by Barid Al-Maghrib. This is one of the status's main administrative advantages for starting a small individual activity.

How to obtain your RC number: the steps

The registration process follows a precise sequence:

• Negative certificate. First reserve your company name and have it approved by OMPIC.

• Drafting the articles. The articles set the company's operating rules and must be legalised.

• Registration with the DGI. Registering contracts with the Directorate General of Taxes.

• Court registration. The registry of the competent commercial court assigns the RC number.

• Obtaining associated identifiers. Alongside the RC, you receive your ICE, tax identification number (IF) and CNSS number.

• Legal publication. Within one month of registration, publication in the Official Gazette and a legal notices newspaper is mandatory, in French and Arabic. Without it, the enforceability of registration against third parties remains legally vulnerable.

The RC number is a sequential identifier assigned by the local court; there is no single national format. Two businesses in different cities may have the same number: the city distinguishes them, for example RC 123456 Casablanca.

RC, ICE and IF: do not confuse them

Three identifiers are issued together at formation, and many entrepreneurs confuse them despite their different purposes.

The RC proves your business's legal existence. ICE uniquely identifies it in all administrative and commercial formalities. IF is specifically used in dealings with the tax administration.

RC online: checking and obtaining an extract (Model J)

You can consult the RC of a Moroccan business—your own or a partner's—directly online, particularly through OMPIC's DirectInfo portal, accessible from any country.

The official Commercial Register extract is called Model J, sometimes Model 7. Banks routinely request it when opening a business account, partners before signing major contracts, and the administration for tenders. It is issued by the commercial court or through OMPIC's portal for a fee of MAD 20 and remains valid for three months from issue; after that, a new extract must be requested.

Updating your RC: office, manager and capital

Any change affecting information recorded in the RC must be declared: registered office, manager, business purpose or an increase or reduction in capital.

A specific case is moving the registered office to another court's jurisdiction. If the new office falls under another commercial court, the original RC registration is removed and a new registration is made with the new office's court, resulting in a new RC number.

For sensitive changes such as share transfers or capital increases, professional support is strongly recommended: drafting errors and missed legal publications are common and may make the change unenforceable against third parties.

Removal from the Commercial Register

Removal occurs when activity ceases or the company is dissolved or liquidated. As with registration, it must be declared to the competent commercial court and legally published.

What are the risks of not registering?

Conducting commercial activity without RC registration, or after the legal three-month deadline, creates several concrete risks:

• Unlawful operation, punishable by fines.

• Systematic rejection of business account applications by banks.

• Inability to register import documents with a bank or export properly.

• No legal personality for a company: legally, it simply does not exist.

• Greater personal liability for the manager, no longer protected by the corporate structure.

Common mistakes to avoid

The first common mistake is delaying legal publication after registration, weakening the company's enforceability against third parties.

The second is failing to update the RC after a change of manager or office, creating a gap between the company's reality and the official register—a common issue in audits or fundraising.

Finally, many entrepreneurs wait until the legal three-month deadline is almost up, leaving little room for an incomplete file or a missing document at the court registry.

Start your company, RC included

Felexia Conseils supports the preparation of your company formation in Morocco. You can present your project remotely; the firm then explains the documents, formalities and arrangements suited to your circumstances.

FAQ — Commercial Register in Morocco