When parties enter into a non-circumvention agreement, they become contractually bound to include the other in the potential business dealings. For example, business partners may use this type of agreement to prevent the other party from going directly to their supplier or contacts, thus taking advantage of their information and connections to cut them out of the deal.

In a mutual non-circumvention agreement, neither party can do business without the other; in a unilateral non-circumvention agreement, only one party is obligated to uphold the non-circumvention terms. These types of agreements often include NDA clauses to protect confidential information exchanged in the relationship.