The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) Takes Action Against Textbook Cartel

At the beginning of the current academic year the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) initiated investigations into the education sector. This sector is of particular interest to the ECA as the education directly affecting vulnerable consumers—namely families and children. Consequently, the Egyptian government deems the education sector a sector of vital public interest. Through its investigation the ECA discovered agreements between textbook providers that violated the Egyptian Competition Law, Law 3/2005 through agreements that aimed to artificially increase prices for textbooks in Egypt and divide the Egyptian textbook market by customers.

In their decision of 25 February 2023 the ECA found that the representative offices of two foreign publishing houses in close cooperation with their authorized distributors had concluded horizontal agreements that aimed to artificially increase the price of educational textbooks in Egypt. These agreements priced textbooks