By instituting such charges banks can effectively exceed the limits intended by the law, increasing their revenues, gaining an unfair competitive advantage and creating consumer confusion.

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But some more controversial subjective judgments are effectively off-limits.

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During apartheid, boycotts targeting the country's racist policies had isolated its wine-making industry from the rest of the world, which meant that modern cultivation techniques, foreign varietals and rich export markets were all effectively off-limits.

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The constant debates about these legal issues place severe limits on its ability to act effectively to resolve the euro crisis.

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"Within limits, most of us can operate very effectively in ways that are not within our preferred personality, " says Arnold, noting that an extrovert can be perfectly capable of behaving calmly when appropriate.

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The explosive growth of the Atlanta metro area, which encompasses more than 6, 000 square miles of land in more than 25 counties, effectively masked two decades of population losses within the city's traditional limits.

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