Horizontal restrictive business practices include cartel agreements, where existing competitors fix prices and divide markets among themselves, are one form of such practices. There exist different types of cartels (domestic, import, export, international), but in all such agreements, there is the possibility of collusive tendering (also called bid-rigging) where cartel members can eliminate or distort competition.
Vertical restrictive business practices, involving exploitation of a dominant position, include, for example, refusals to deal, exclusive dealing, resale price maintenance (where the manufacturer fixes the resale price), tied selling (where the manufacturer focuses the consumer, the reseller or wholesaler to purchase more goods than are wanted), differential and predatory pricing (where the manufacturer sells the same goods or services at different prices to different customers, or sells goods at a loss until a competitor goes bankrupt), abusive mergers and take-overs (when used to create a monopoly or dominant position). Such practices may reduce the beneficial effects of imports, notably though abusive exercises of intellectual property rights, or pricing abuses by foreign exporters.
Although there is legislation in several countries to control restrictive business practices, in practice these apply to trade and transactions having effects on the domestic market and seldom to international trade when the adverse effects are felt abroad exclusively.