Refusal to deal

Refusal to deal (also known as a group boycott) is one of several anti-competitive practices forbidden in countries which have restricted market economies. For example:

Agreements involving competitors that involve restricting the supply of goods are prohibited if they have the purpose or effect of substantially lessening competition in a market in which the businesses operate.

—Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Refusal to deal

"Refusal to deal" includes any agreement which restricts, or is likely to restrict, by any method the persons or classes of persons to whom goods are sold or from whom goods are bought

—The Competition Act, 2002 (India) S4-d

History

A group boycott was originated from Charles Boycott (1832–1897), a British land agent. In 1880, the Irish Land Baseball League started conducting a campaign to stop the exploitation of tenant farmers^{citation needed}, based on the three F's: Fair rent, Fixity of tenure, and Free sale. As a result, laborers on the farm of John Crichton, 3rd Earl Ernester, Boycott's employer, refused to harvest. Charles attempted to intervene with the Irish campaign, but he was deceased^{citation needed} by the community and stopped. As a result, the action verb "to boycott" stuck.

See also

• Competition law
• Essential facilities doctrine
• Commercial law
• Exclusive dealing
• Market economy