Driving while chatting on a mobile phone is common, though specifically forbidden by the new rules.

ECONOMIST: Will new rules make Spanish drivers less dangerous?

Between them, these two control most of the local television stations, which would be forbidden under American antitrust rules, and which prevents any serious competitor arising.

ECONOMIST: Mexico

Pork is strictly forbidden by Islamic dietary rules.

BBC: Dr Ali Saleem

And those 11, 000 employees whose 401K funds were invested exclusively in Enron -- and who were forbidden by Enron's own rules from diversifying -- today have no retirement plan at all.

CNN: Bill Press: Enron makes Whitewater look like peanuts

Under European Union rules, EU governments are forbidden from subsidising struggling companies that could give them an unfair advantage over rivals except under exceptional circumstances.

BBC: EU presses Italy on Alitalia loan

Shareholders will have a veto over salaries, golden handshakes will be forbidden, and managers of companies who flout the rules could face prison.

BBC: Swiss referendum backs executive pay curbs

Under European Union rules, direct subsidies to companies are strictly forbidden, but industry subsidies are treated more lightly.

ECONOMIST: Junked? | The

Russia's rules state that material can be banned for including any one of three kinds of forbidden material.

BBC: Google challenges Russia YouTube video ban

It also ignores the provision in the Maastricht rules that credit risk will remain firmly with the sovereign borrower: the European Central Bank will be formally forbidden to bail out any national government.

ECONOMIST: Europe's mid-life crisis