Roughly 60 countries, including the European Union's 15 members and the Gulf Co-operation Council's six members, have mechanisms for restricting trade with the rest of the world. That conclusion comes from the annual report of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on obstacles to American exports. The report does not analyse America's own, elaborate restrictions. Of most relevance to countries besides America are anti-competitive practices. The bad news on this front is that Hungary, Peru and Romania have attracted the USTR's attention for their protectionist policies in telephone services, fuel and products previously controlled by state monopolies. On the good side, Norway has reformed its monopsonistic system of buying pharmaceuticals for hospitals. Another negative is in the growing field of electronic commerce; the USTR finds that 52 countries now hamper trade on the Internet, up from 46 last year. Export subsidies could be the next area in which progress is made; most members of the World Trade Organisation want to trim them, especially for farm products.