Cairo, October 12, 2025 — The Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) has found that 12 schools engaged in anticompetitive practices in the market for school uniform distribution, in violation of Article 8 of Law No. 3 of 2005 on the Protection of Competition and the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices.
The authority concluded that the schools — including public, language, private, and international institutions — abused their dominant position by restricting distribution channels. In particular, they:
- Obliged parents to buy uniforms exclusively from designated outlets.
- Withheld information about uniform specifications for different grades, in breach of the two-month disclosure period set by Ministerial Decision No. 167 of 2023.
- Linked unrelated obligations, such as making purchase of the school uniform a condition for enrollment or requiring parents to buy full uniform sets rather than individual items.
The ECA said these practices harmed consumers and producers alike by limiting competition, raising prices, and reducing parents’ freedom to choose suppliers. They also threatened existing investments and discouraged new entrants into the school uniform sector.
The finding followed an ECA awareness campaign titled “Know Your Rights at the Start of the School Year”. The authority also set up a hotline to receive complaints about restrictive practices in the uniform market, which led to numerous reports from parents and suppliers.
ECA inspectors carried out field investigations, visiting schools and retail outlets, interviewing complainants and parents, and gathering evidence.
The authority took immediate legal action, ordering the offending schools to implement corrective measures and align their conduct with competition law for the current and future academic years.
Source: https://eca.org.eg/ar-eg
