ONSSA Approval 2026-2027: Delegated Inspections and What to Check

Which texts apply in 2026-2027?

The same as in 2015, supplemented by an order of 2025. For readers new to Morocco: ONSSA (Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits Alimentaires) is the national food safety office; an agrément is a sanitary approval and an autorisation a sanitary authorisation. The table gives the state of the texts as we read them on the ONSSA website and on Adala, the Ministry of Justice’s legal portal, on 5 November 2026.

These findings are based on the versions published by ONSSA and by the Adala portal, consulted in November 2026. The substantive rules (who must be approved, which documents to provide, which deadlines apply) are set out in our ONSSA sanitary authorisation guide.

What changes with delegated sanitary inspections?

Who knocks on the door. Order 2010-25 of 5 August 2025, published in Official Bulletin No. 7474 of 15 January 2026 after the general Arabic edition of 5 January 2026, allows ONSSA to delegate to approved public bodies or private legal entities the regular sanitary inspections provided for in Article 16 of Decree 2-10-473. It rests on Article 2 of Law 25-08, which created ONSSA, and on a resolution of ONSSA’s board of directors of 12 December 2023.

What the text requires of the delegated body, according to the specifications (cahier des charges) annexed to it:

• carry out visits according to the programme set in advance by ONSSA, plus any additional visits ONSSA requests;
• respect impartiality, the absence of conflicts of interest and the confidentiality of data;
• inform ONSSA without delay of any non-conformity that poses a danger to life or health;
• complete in real time the checklist and the inspection report provided for in Order 244-13 in ONSSA’s phytosanitary and sanitary information system;
• file dated and signed reports within two working days of the visit;
• employ a veterinarian holding an inspection mandate for animal products, animal feed and fishery products or, for plant products, a state engineer (ingénieur d’État) in food industries with five years’ experience, selected after an interview by ONSSA;
• show, for these people, audit or assessment experience in at least five establishments and training certificates less than five years old in standard NM ISO/CEI 22000.

The delegated body’s approval is issued by the Director General of ONSSA within thirty days of a compliant file, for five years, renewable. It is personal, and it can be suspended for one to six months, then withdrawn.

For your site, three practical consequences. The visitor may no longer be an ONSSA officer: ask for their identity and for proof of their approval. The report reaches ONSSA within two working days: your corrective commitments must be written and dated at the visit. And the register of visits under Order 1063-15 must record every visit, whoever the visitor. The order says nothing about suspension or withdrawal decisions: they remain governed by the decree. In November 2026, ONSSA’s website did not yet publish a list of approved delegated bodies or a start date for delegated visits.

For an importer reviewing a Moroccan supplier’s file, the consequence is simple: a regular inspection report may now carry the name of an approved private body rather than an ONSSA officer, and the register of visits is where both appear.

Can the procedure be done online?

Not according to what ONSSA describes today. Its page on food establishments provides for filing the form and the file with the provincial inspection service, with downloadable documents. The website offers e-services, including electronic payment, a “registration platform” accessible with a login, and the phytosanitary and sanitary information system, but none presents itself as an online filing of the approval application (pages consulted in November 2026).

On fees, ONSSA’s tariffs page refers to the decision of 7 April 2025 setting the list and prices of ONSSA’s services (in French). Sanitary approval and authorisation are among these paid services. Check the current amounts, any special cases and the payment arrangements in ONSSA’s fee schedule, or ask the provincial inspection service, before filing.

Is your establishment on the right list?

Check before your buyer does. The decree requires the authorities to keep up to date the list of approved or authorised establishments, with their name, address, number and activities (Article 25). For plant products, the lists of approved and authorised establishments available from ONSSA’s lists page carry the date 10 September 2026 in their file names. For fishery products, the sector page offers lists whose file names date from 2021 and 2022; in November 2026, no more recent list appeared there.

A missing line, an old address or a missing activity is corrected with the service that issued the approval. The same reflex applies to the European Union’s lists. For products of animal origin, the Commission publishes in TRACES-NT the establishments proposed by the exporting country’s competent authority, which is responsible for the accuracy of the data and must remove establishments that no longer meet the conditions, according to the Commission’s page. Our seafood and canning page covers the case of canneries.

What should you check before exporting in 2027?

The sanitary title first, then what the buyer requires. On the ONSSA side, the export procedure for plant products requires a copy of the establishment’s approval or authorisation in every certification file. On the buyer’s side, the standards calendar also counts: according to ACG’s standards register, FSSC 22000 version 6 audits remain possible until 30 April 2027 and upgrades to Version 7 take place from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028; BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 and IFS Food Version 8 remain in force. Our food safety consulting hub tracks these deadlines.

• Reread your approval or authorisation: activities, address, operator, company name.
  
• Check your entry and your activities on the list published by ONSSA.
  
• Update the register of visits and record every visit in it, delegated or not.
  
• Prepare to receive a delegated body: identity, proof of approval, a named contact person on site.
  
• Check whether an approved good sanitary practice guide now covers your activity.
  
• For products of animal origin exported to the EU, check your listing in TRACES-NT.
  
• Align your 2027 certification audits with the calendar of your standards.
  

For the practical preparation of a visit, see our ONSSA approval application file checklist.