The Competition Commission has welcomed the withdrawal of the appeal lodged by Dis-Chem Pharmacies after being found guilty of price gouging by the Competition Tribunal on 7 July 2020.

Dis-Chem filed this notice of withdrawal to appeal at the Competition Appeals Court on Thursday.

During the investigation, the Commission found that Dis-Chem had increased its prices on essential hygienic goods such as surgical face masks blue (50PC), surgical face masks (5PC) and surgical face masks folio dress blue to excessive prices which violates Section 8(1)(a) of the Competition Act read together with Regulation 4 of the Consumer Protection Regulations.

From at least 28 March 2020, the Commission received several complaints from the public against several retail stores owned by Dis-Chem for engaging in excessive pricing of face masks.

The Commission’s investigation revealed that, prior to the declaration of a national state of disaster, Dis-Chem was selling the three types of masks, namely, surgical face masks blue 50PC, surgical face masks 5PC and surgical face masks folio dress blue at far lower prices.

For surgical face mask blue 50PC, the average price was inflated from R43.47 (excl. VAT) per unit (50 masks) in February 2020 to R156.95 (excl. VAT) per unit (50 masks) in March 2020, a price increase of 261%.

The surgical face masks 5PC, the average price increased from R13.27 (excl. VAT) per unit (5 masks) in February 2020 to R19.03 (excl. VAT) per mask (1 mask) in March 2020, a price increase of 43%.

Dis-Chem’s surgical face masks folio dress blue prices increased by 25% while costs declined by 0.1%.