The Competition Authority directs the Minister of Education to promote a review of the laws and regulations concerning the publication and sale of teaching materials by the National Educational Media Institute for primary school pupils, in light of the objectives and provisions of the Competition Act.
The Supervisory Authority directs instructions to the National Centre for Educational Materials concerning the financial separation within the institution between, on the one hand, its statutory activities and, on the other, its activities that are in competition with private entities.
Independent educational publishers have complained to the competition authorities that the practices of the National Educational Materials Institute and its legal framework are anti-competitive. The National Curriculum Council is standing in the way of the country's primary schools being able to use educational materials written and published by others than the council. Through a so-called quota system, which the National Centre for Educational Materials changes without notice and at its own discretion, the institution has made it virtually impossible for independent authors and publishers of educational materials to make their materials available to primary schools. Furthermore, the aforementioned textbook publishers complain that the National Educational Supplements Institute sells the teaching materials it produces for primary schools on the open market at prices that cannot be competed with.
The Competition Authority is of the opinion that the barriers to competition in the market for the publication and sale of educational materials for primary school pupils can be largely attributed to the legal framework within which the market operates. The Act on the National Centre for Educational Materials dates from 1990 and the regulation from 1980. Both came into force some time before the Competition Act. Furthermore, the National Educational Supplements does not maintain financial separation in the sense of the Competition Act between its statutory function, on the one hand, of supplying the country's primary schools with educational materials, and the activity of selling the institution's published materials on the open market in competition with private parties, on the other.- and teaching materials and that activity, on the other hand, which consists of selling the institution's published material on the general market in competition with private parties.
The legal framework and regulations that directly concern the publication and sale of educational materials for primary school pupils appear, in practice, to work against competition in this sector. The laws and regulations in question are in conflict with the objectives of competition law. The practices of the National Centre for Educational Materials are also geared towards reducing and hindering competition. As a result, the country's primary schools and their pupils miss out on the benefits of effective competition. Effective competition leads to buyers receiving more and better products and services than they otherwise would, at a lower price. It pressures all market participants to reduce costs and increase the quality of what they sell.
Several private sector actors have attempted to establish themselves in the business of writing, publishing and selling educational materials for primary school pupils, despite the difficult conditions created for them by the legal framework. Due to the circumstances and the practices of the National Centre for Educational Materials described here, these textbook publishers have made little headway. Consequently, primary schools and their pupils have only limited benefit from this competition. In the view of the Competition Authority, there is no reason to believe that competition cannot thrive in the publication and sale of teaching materials for primary school pupils, provided the legal framework is adapted to the changed circumstances. Such competition is likely to promote more diverse teaching materials and improve their quality.
In light of the above, the Competition Authority directs the Minister of Education to ensure that the laws and regulations concerning the Learning Resource Centre are reviewed in light of competition law. The National Curriculum Council is also required to align its practices with competition law.
Decision of the Competition Authority No. 40/2006, A paper concerning the competition practices of the National Educational Media Institute in the publication and sale of teaching materials for primary school pupils.
Opinion of the Competition Authority No. 2/2006, A paper concerning the anti-competitive practices and legal framework of the National Centre for Educational Materials in the publication and sale of teaching materials for primary school pupils.
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