According to a report from the Interregional European Consumer Institute, which considered 21 models in four countries, personal and semi-professional computers are 52% more expensive in Spain and offer less quality for price than in the rest of Europe, whilst the best prices were found in West Germany. Salvador Novell of the Catalan Consumer Institute says the situation in Spain stems from that country’s lack of a domestic computer industry, which means that it has to import all its technology, thereby pushing up prices. The Catalan Institute, however, hopes to push the distributors and producers to adjust their prices so that the user does not have to buy directly from abroad to get what they want at the right price. The difference in price will also be serious for the Spanish distribution network after the liberalisation of goods in 1993. Yet, the report does show a large reduction in price from 1987 in Spain compared with other countries, and the Spanish market for computers continues to be one of fastest-growing in Europe, with domestic sales increasing by 46% annually.
