Metal Detecting Laws in Morocco

Morocco's heritage law bans digging and searching on land or at sea for buildings or objects of historical or archaeological interest without a permit, and the permit it describes is a licence for archaeological excavation. The new heritage law, once in force, spells out who can get one: archaeologists, researchers, scientific institutions and heritage associations.

• the law treated here as in force is Law 22-80 (القانون رقم 22.80, on historic monuments, sites, inscriptions, art objects and antiquities) as amended by Law 19.05 of 2006, because its successor takes effect only with regulations we did not find (below); its chapter (الفصل) 45 bans digging and searching (الحفر والبحث) on land and at sea, without a permit, to discover buildings or movables of historical, archaeological or anthropological interest to Morocco
• the law calls the permit a licence to carry out archaeological excavation operations; it can carry conditions and is withdrawn if they are not met (ch. 50)
• Law 33.22 on heritage protection, promulgated by dahir of 6 June 2025 and published in the Bulletin officiel (Arabic edition) No. 7415 of June 2025, replaces Law 22-80 from the date its implementing regulations are published; art. 133 required those regulations within six months of the law's publication, a deadline that passed around December 2025, and a search of the Ministry of Justice's legal portal (Adala) on Oct 8, 2026 listed only the law's promulgation dahir, so Law 33.22 may by now be in force
• under Law 33.22, once in force, nobody may carry out research, soundings or excavations on their own or anyone else's land to look for property of historical or archaeological interest without the heritage administration's prior permit (art. 98), and permits go only to archaeologists, specialist researcher-professors, scientific institutions, research centres, universities, institutes or civil-society associations interested in heritage (art. 100)
• under Law 22-80, breaking the law carries a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, and on a repeat offence at least double the earlier fine, up to 40,000 dirhams (ch. 52); the court may add a fine of ten times the value of the movable concerned, which counts as civil compensation, and confiscate it, and confiscation is mandatory for unauthorized excavation and undeclared discoveries (ch. 54-1); under Law 33.22, once in force, unauthorized research or excavation carries 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 119(5)), with the finds confiscated and the equipment and tools seized (art. 123)
• neither law names metal detectors, and no rule on importing or using detectors was found in the sources read
• the rule covers heritage; no source read addresses detecting for modern lost items

There's no beach exception: the permit rule covers digging and searching at sea as well as on land, and the marine area it reaches is Morocco's exclusive fishing zone.

• the national rule: nobody may dig or search on land or at sea for buildings or movables of historical or archaeological interest without a permit (Law 22-80, ch. 45)
• the marine area is the exclusive fishing zone defined in the 1973 dahir on Morocco's territorial waters (ch. 45)
• Law 33.22, once in force, also protects underwater cultural heritage: traces of human existence of cultural, historical or archaeological character that have been underwater for at least 100 years (art. 2)
• under Law 22-80, breaking the law carries a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, and on a repeat offence at least double the earlier fine, up to 40,000 dirhams (ch. 52); the court may add a fine of ten times the value of the movable concerned, which counts as civil compensation, and confiscate it, and confiscation is mandatory for unauthorized excavation and undeclared discoveries (ch. 54-1); under Law 33.22, once in force, unauthorized research or excavation carries 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 119(5)), with the finds confiscated and the equipment and tools seized (art. 123)
• no beach-specific detecting rule was found in the sources read
• the law is written about searching for heritage; it doesn't address hunting for modern lost items

Classified monuments and sites are protected: no change of any kind may be made to the appearance of places within a classified property's perimeter without an administrative permit, and the permit rule for digging and searching for heritage applies there as everywhere.

• a classified property may not be demolished, even partly, except as ch. 36 allows, and may not be restored, altered or built on without a permit (chs. 20-22)
• under Law 33.22, once in force, demolishing, wrecking or defacing a listed or classified property carries 1 to 3 years in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 118)
• under Law 22-80, breaking the law carries a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, and on a repeat offence at least double the earlier fine, up to 40,000 dirhams (ch. 52); the court may add a fine of ten times the value of the movable concerned, which counts as civil compensation, and confiscate it, and confiscation is mandatory for unauthorized excavation and undeclared discoveries (ch. 54-1); under Law 33.22, once in force, unauthorized research or excavation carries 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 119(5)), with the finds confiscated and the equipment and tools seized (art. 123)
• the national rule: nobody may dig or search on land or at sea for buildings or movables of historical or archaeological interest without a permit (Law 22-80, ch. 45)
• Law 33.22 on heritage protection, promulgated by dahir of 6 June 2025 and published in the Bulletin officiel (Arabic edition) No. 7415 of June 2025, replaces Law 22-80 from the date its implementing regulations are published; art. 133 required those regulations within six months of the law's publication, a deadline that passed around December 2025, and a search of the Ministry of Justice's legal portal (Adala) on Oct 8, 2026 listed only the law's promulgation dahir, so Law 33.22 may by now be in force
• the law is written about searching for heritage; it doesn't address hunting for modern lost items

National parks and nature reserves follow the national rule: digging or searching for heritage needs a permit, and the permit is an archaeological excavation licence.

• the national rule: nobody may dig or search on land or at sea for buildings or movables of historical or archaeological interest without a permit (Law 22-80, ch. 45)
• under Law 33.22, once in force, nobody may carry out research, soundings or excavations on their own or anyone else's land to look for property of historical or archaeological interest without the heritage administration's prior permit (art. 98), and permits go only to archaeologists, specialist researcher-professors, scientific institutions, research centres, universities, institutes or civil-society associations interested in heritage (art. 100)
• under Law 22-80, breaking the law carries a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, and on a repeat offence at least double the earlier fine, up to 40,000 dirhams (ch. 52); the court may add a fine of ten times the value of the movable concerned, which counts as civil compensation, and confiscate it, and confiscation is mandatory for unauthorized excavation and undeclared discoveries (ch. 54-1); under Law 33.22, once in force, unauthorized research or excavation carries 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 119(5)), with the finds confiscated and the equipment and tools seized (art. 123)
• no park- or reserve-specific detecting rule was found in the sources read
• the law is written about searching for heritage; it doesn't address hunting for modern lost items

State forests follow the national rule: digging or searching for heritage needs a permit, and the permit is an archaeological excavation licence.

• the national rule: nobody may dig or search on land or at sea for buildings or movables of historical or archaeological interest without a permit (Law 22-80, ch. 45)
• under Law 33.22, once in force, nobody may carry out research, soundings or excavations on their own or anyone else's land to look for property of historical or archaeological interest without the heritage administration's prior permit (art. 98), and permits go only to archaeologists, specialist researcher-professors, scientific institutions, research centres, universities, institutes or civil-society associations interested in heritage (art. 100)
• under Law 22-80, breaking the law carries a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, and on a repeat offence at least double the earlier fine, up to 40,000 dirhams (ch. 52); the court may add a fine of ten times the value of the movable concerned, which counts as civil compensation, and confiscate it, and confiscation is mandatory for unauthorized excavation and undeclared discoveries (ch. 54-1); under Law 33.22, once in force, unauthorized research or excavation carries 6 months to 2 years in prison and a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or one of the two (art. 119(5)), with the finds confiscated and the equipment and tools seized (art. 123)
• no forest-specific detecting rule was found in the sources read
• the law is written about searching for heritage; it doesn't address hunting for modern lost items

Private land is no loophole: the permit rule for digging and searching for heritage applies to anyone, and Law 33.22, once in force, says outright that it covers your own land as well as anyone else's.

• the national rule: nobody may dig or search on land or at sea for buildings or movables of historical or archaeological interest without a permit (Law 22-80, ch. 45)
• under Law 33.22, once in force, nobody may carry out research, soundings or excavations on their own or anyone else's land to look for property of historical or archaeological interest without the heritage administration's prior permit (art. 98), and permits go only to archaeologists, specialist researcher-professors, scientific institutions, research centres, universities, institutes or civil-society associations interested in heritage (art. 100)
• Law 33.22 on heritage protection, promulgated by dahir of 6 June 2025 and published in the Bulletin officiel (Arabic edition) No. 7415 of June 2025, replaces Law 22-80 from the date its implementing regulations are published; art. 133 required those regulations within six months of the law's publication, a deadline that passed around December 2025, and a search of the Ministry of Justice's legal portal (Adala) on Oct 8, 2026 listed only the law's promulgation dahir, so Law 33.22 may by now be in force
• art objects and movable antiquities found during any works become State property, with compensation to the holder (ch. 49)
• the law is written about searching for heritage; it doesn't address hunting for modern lost items