Advisory to a government agency on publication of prices for specific product

One of the advisories concerned a government agency’s proposal to publish the prices of a certain category of products that are offered to business customers in an industry. This stemmed from feedback raised by the business customers that the prices for these products were escalating. In response, CCCS advised that the collection and publication of actual or historical prices by the government agency is unlikely to restrict competition and could instead promote price transparency, enabling the business customers to compare prices more easily. However, CCCS also advised the government agency to: (a) ensure that the proposal does not allow the product providers to access one another’s future pricing information; (b) collect the information from each product provider independently without the need for any information sharing between the product providers; (c) include as many product providers as possible in the prices that are published; (d) avoid endorsing any particular product provider or prices; (e) clearly state the qualifiers next to the published prices so that it would be clearer what components are included in the prices; and (f) verify the accuracy of the prices received from the product providers.