The Fair Trade Commission on Thursday warned an internal body of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization that rules preventing players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the anti-monopoly law.
The professional baseball organization established the rules and notified the 12 professional teams and players in November 2000. The rules limited players’ agents to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers already selected by other players.
The body, which falls under the NPB’s board and is in principle chaired by the NPB’s president, decided to abolish the rules on September 2 after the anti-monopoly watchdog launched a review of the rules in August and concluded that they constituted an unfair restriction on activities that was prohibited by law.
Ken Iwabuchi, chief investigator at the FTC, said at a news conference Thursday that eliminating the rules could result in people in management becoming agents for players.
The baseball association said in a statement that professional baseball teams will continue to comply with relevant laws and regulations and will conduct contract negotiations with players in a fair and appropriate manner.
