The Tangier free zone will enable companies to benefit from a wealth of incentives, including exemption from customs clearance formalities and exchange controls, and the availability of offshore banking services. It is a partnership between the Industry Ministry and Tangier Free Zone Company - itself a consortium of Moroccan private businesses BCM, BMCE, SNI, Compagnie Africaine d’Assurance, Royal Marocaine d’Assurance and Caisse Interprofessionnelle Marocaine de Retraites.

The zone will be divided into:

1. A 130-hectare logistics free zone focused on services and transformation and assembly industries, offering office accommodation for an estimated 110 enterprises, 49,000 square metres of warehousing, a customs office, a shopping and leisure complex, banking services and a lorry park with capacity for 900 vehicles;

2. A 600-hectare industrial free zone, 25 kilometres from the port, which will be an extension to the Tangier free zone formed in 2001 and will offer office plots of between 1,000-20,000 square metres, a one-stop shop for investors, warehouse space, restaurants and a health centre; and

3. A 200-hectare commercial free zone, 18 kilometres from the port, to accommodate up to 500 wholesale and retail trade enterprises and service companies.

Specific benefits of the free zone will include:

• Simplified administrative procedures;

• Exemption from legislation governing foreign trade and currency controls;

• Foreign exchange freedom and freedom to transfer profits and capital;

• Exemption from all duties, taxes and surcharges due on the importation, circulation, consumption, production and/or exportation of goods;

• Exemption from registration taxes and stamp duty for the constitution or augmentation of capital or acquisition of plots;

• Fifteen-year exemption from licence tax and urban property tax;

• Exemption from company tax for the first five years and a reduction of 8.75 per cent thereafter;

• Exemption from share dividend taxes for non-residents and a 7.5 per cent reduction for residents; and

• Exemption from value-added tax on goods coming from abroad.