Apple and Microsoft have been ordered to front a parliamentary committee and explain why Australian consumers pay far more than those overseas for information technology goods.

The House of Representatives committee on infrastructure and communications has issued a summons to Apple, Microsoft and Adobe requiring them to appear before a public hearing on March 22 in Canberra.

The committee was established in May 2012 to investigate why local IT consumers pay higher prices for hardware and software.

Labor backbencher Ed Husic said the committee's move was important but it should not have been needed.

"These firms should have co-operated and been prepared to be more open and transparent about their pricing approaches," he said in a statement.

"In what's probably the first time anywhere in the world, these IT firms are now being summonsed by the Australian Parliament to explain why they price their products so much higher in Australia compared to the US."

Mr Husic was one of the driving forces for the inquiry.