But I have never seen any economic analysis that shows how manufacturer-imposed resale price maintenance, closed dealer territories, customer allocation clauses, or the like can have the net effect of restricting output.
The moves followed the lifting of the 30-year-old exemption of medicines from a general ban on resale price maintenance.
The probe began 15 months ago after a government department passed information on alleged resale price maintenance by both papers.
For three decades over-the-counter medicines have been exempt from a general ban on resale price maintenance - it was allowed to remain on the products to protect small chemist's shops because of the threat from supermarkets.
These rules will, however, be breached where you directly or indirectly fix the price at which a customer who purchases products from you resells those products. This is known as resale price maintenance.