The Department of Environment under the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Environment (MEME) of Morocco organized the self-assessment workshop of the national oil spill response system  using the RETOS™ Tool and the ARPEL Manual from 14 to 16 January 2020 in Rabat, Morocco.

The self-assessment was conducted by the Environment Department with the assistance of ITOPF Ltd. and was attended by twenty-five representatives from twelve government institutions and departments.

Following training on the assessment of the level of oil spill response planning and readiness management the first day, participants carried out a self-assessment of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan on the afternoon of the first day and on the second day of the workshop. The third day was dedicated to discussing the results of this assessment, reviewing the recommendations established during the two days of work and identifying the main elements of the system to be improved.

The ARPEL tool for the assessment of oil spill preparedness (Readiness Evaluation Tool for Oïl Spills, RETOS™) and its manual were chosen to help governments conduct a self-assessment of their level of oil spill preparedness planning/management and to identify areas for improvement, according to pre-established consensus criteria.