On 8 November 2025, the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA) determined that 13 schools violated Egyptian competition law by abusing their dominant position in the school uniform market and restricting the sale of their uniforms to exclusive outlets. This was not the first time the ECA detected violations in the school uniform sector; the present case marks the second investigation of this kind following the investigation initiated in 2023 (for an overview on this investigation see our client updated of 23 September 2023).
Reports of changes to school uniforms, withholding of uniform specifications, and requirements to buy uniforms only from designated outlets and only as full sets prompted the ECAC to investigate. Their investigation uncovered that several schools had leveraged their position in the school uniform market in a manner amounting to an abuse of dominance. The practices included restricting distribution by obliging parents to buy uniforms exclusively from specific outlets. This behavior was reinforced by the schools’ failure to publish the specifications of new uniforms for each educational stage within the required timeframe—despite the obligation under Ministerial Decree No. 167/2023 to publish specifications at least two months before the start of the academic year
The investigation further indicated that the schools engaged in various anti-competitive practices. They linked access to the educational service to the mandatory purchase of uniforms from a specific retailer and required parents to buy the uniforms as complete sets rather than allowing the purchase of individual items.
Collectively, these practices were deemed to constitute anticompetitive behavior intended to limit consumer choice.
The investigation also revealed that, in some of the schools under investigation, the design of the school uniforms had been deliberately complicated. This included the use of multiple color combinations and intricate design elements across different educational stages. Such complexity was assessed as having the effect—if not the intention—of limiting parents’ ability to source uniforms from alternative suppliers, thereby steering them toward a single designated retailer.
The ECA noted that these practices harmed not only parents—by limiting their choice and contributing to overpricing—but also other market competitors, including manufacturers and retailers who were not given sufficient time to produce and distribute the uniforms. This created barriers for new entrants into this market, and ultimately affecting the overall market size.
In response to the violations, the ECA decided to initiate legal proceedings against the schools and required them to implement corrective measures to halt the anticompetitive practices and ensure compliance for the current and upcoming academic years. While the authority emphasized the importance of ending the abusive conduct and restoring fair competition in the school uniform market, its decision did not specify the exact nature of the corrective measures, nor did it detail the sanctions to be imposed on the violators.
The presented case fits within the broader pattern of intensified ECA enforcement across the education sector. Over the past two years, the authority has issued several significant findings, starting with a February 2023 decision.
In their decision of 25 February 2023, the ECA determined that the representative offices of two foreign publishing houses, in close cooperation with their authorized, Egyptian distributors, had engaged in horizontal agreements aimed at artificially increasing the price of educational textbooks in Egypt (for more details see our client update of 26 February 2023).
Moreover, there was an ECA investigation concluded in early January 2024 led to 33 printing houses having been found to have colluded in public tenders for schoolbooks (for more details see our client update of 3 January 2024), and In 8 January 2024, the ECA determined that cooperative associations violated Egyptian competition law by colluding and exchanging competition related information in in relation to contracts with the General Diwan of Minya Governorate for the supply of school meals. (for more details see our client update of 8 January 2024). Also, On June 2024, the ECA determined that three companies operating in printing, publishing, and distribution of external school textbooks for primary, preparatory, and secondary schools violated the Egyptian competition law through agreements that aimed to inflate prices for schoolbooks. (for more details see our client update of 23 June 2024).
AUTHOR
Ms. Asmaa ElDesoky
