Economic Competition Commission Has No Role in Prices of PCR Tests, Gevorgyan Says

The Economic Competition Commission has no role regarding the prices of coronavirus PCR tests. This was stated today by the chairman of the Competition Protection Commission, Gegham Gevorgyan, during a press briefing with reporters at the National Assembly.

"If there is no single entity in the market that holds a dominant position, even if it sets the price at X or Y, the Competition Protection Commission cannot intervene here," said Gevorgyan.

According to him, the state also cannot set a general price for everyone, as this would violate the rules of free competition. The head of the Competition Protection Commission also noted that the commission has already studied the market and found that there is no single company with a dominant position there. However, this does not mean that its work is completed. Currently, services provided at the airport and the new realities of the PCR testing market are also being examined.

"Because the market is dynamic, right? It is constantly changing. Right now, I will not publish data to avoid influencing the ongoing proceedings, but I believe that in a month or two, you will see the whole picture of what happened in the PCR test market, how prices changed, why they increased, why they decreased, and what services the airport provided," said Gevorgyan.

Regarding the 2,500 dram price mentioned in the media for tests, Gevorgyan explained that this is only the cost of the test itself; additionally, laboratory and administrative expenses, as well as the cost of equipment, are added, resulting in a higher overall service cost.

It is worth noting that the prices for PCR tests in Armenia had fluctuated between 15,000 to 20,000 drams a few months ago. Today, it has decreased to 8,000 drams. Some organizations offered the same service with corporate packages for up to 5,000 drams during September to October.