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The Competition Tribunal says two leading pathology laboratories have agreed to reduce their prices for COVID-19 PCR tests for the next two years.
This will be capped at R500 including VAT, down from R850.
The Competition Tribunal said this formed part of the terms of two separate consent agreements that the Competition Commission concluded with Ampath and Lancet Laboratories.
“The two consent agreements were confirmed as orders of the Competition Tribunal on an urgent basis, to give effect to the price reductions without delay, given the current rising numbers of Covid-19 Omicron infections and consequent increase in the number of PCR tests.”
The consent order followed a complaint to the Competition Commission in October.
“Neither Ampath nor Lancet admit that they charged excessive or exorbitant prices in contravention of section 8(1)(a) of the Competition Act, read together with Regulation 4 of the Consumer Protection Regulations,” the Tribunal said.
