In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 photo, the screens of specialist Armin Silbersmith are reflected in his glasses as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Europe's stock markets were broadly higher Thursday Jan. 23, 2013 amid signs the continent's services and manufacturing slump was easing. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 photo, the screens of specialist Armin Silbersmith are reflected in his glasses as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Europe's stock markets were broadly higher Thursday Jan. 23, 2013 amid signs the continent's services and manufacturing slump was easing. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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President Barack Obama gestures during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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President Barack Obama pauses during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., retreats to a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats as he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., work to negotiate a legislative path to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. Senate and House leaders rushed to assemble a last-ditch agreement to stave off middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of gridlock. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, center, arrives at his office in the Capitol as he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Neveda, try to negotiate a legislative solution to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, arrives at his office in the Capitol as he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Neveda try to negotiate a legislative solution to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona walks between the Senate chamber and the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, as Democrats and Republicans try to negotiate a legislative path to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Apple and Microsoft have been ordered to front a parliamentary committee on IT goods pricing.
IT giants to front parliamentary inquiry
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.
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