Re: Local regulation.

[Mathias Berghaus]
Germany, and whatever country you would like to think of? Dream on.... 
And what good would it do to have Iceland, where Bridge is played nearly 
exclusively in Rejkjavik, and Norway, where 2000 km might be the 
distance to cover, have the same regulation for local encounters? Not to 
mention the U.S. where 2000 might look like a bargain. Fat lot of good 
would it do for anybody. Of course I can see where Iceland and China are 
fundamentally the same... except for the differences....
[Nigel]
If distance-differences make a difference to some aspect of competition,  
the laws can allow for it.

[Mathias Berghaus]
The Australians are going to thank you profusely for your high-headed 
attempt to foist bidding-boxes on them. Why don`t you learn written 
bidding, instead? Oh sure, players would find it easy to follow bidding-box regulations, 
when they have never seen such a thing, and, more importantly, are not 
going to do so anytime soon. Do you think they would care to learn 
regulations that will have _no_ relevance to their way of playing 
Bridge? And no, the Australians are not alone. Why should they learn 
about bidding-box regulations? Because you use them? Well, so do I, but 
so what?
[Nigel]
The WBF have regulations about screens but it doesn’t make them compulsory. 
IMO, written (or spoken) bidding is fine provided appropriate rules are available.

[Mathias Berghaus]
And what, pray, is the best practice to run an event in Monaco? India? 
Practically the same thing, isn`t it? Both are a couple of 1000 m 
across. OK, it`s _k_m in the case of India, and slighly more people, but 
what is factor of 1000 or so for standardization? The fact that England 
and Germany have 1 language each (let us forget about Yorkshire and 
Bavarian dialects for the purpose of this discussion, they are not in 
the regulations anyway), where India has...? 40? 50? Not dialects, 
_languages_. Even Belgium has 3, even if there is no club in the part 
where German is spoken. Switzerland has 3, 4 if you count in 
Rhaeto-Roman (which is probably as relevant to Bridge as German is in 
Belgium), and those 3 languages are spoken in different parts of the 
country. Sure, some are bi- or even trilingual, and others are not. Let 
us try the Belgian way. where English is the official language in the 
top division. I imagine that is not actually used all the time, people 
preferring to understand French or Flemish instead, but I might be 
wrong. Herman can surely tell us. On the other hand, it would be much 
more fair to let the whole learn some language from a country where 
Bridge is not played at all. That way no one would be at an advantage, 
right?
[Nigel]
Like other games (e.g. chess, golf, poker) , the rules of Bridge can transcend
ethnic and language barriers, provided appropriate translations are
available.  A good example is on-line games.

[Mathias Berghaus]
Ah, OK, then we have one bloated rulebook, and _still_ another one for 
e.g. systems regulations. That is a big step forward, giving us _two_ 
books where previously we had , err, two? If you can read German, or 
know someone who does, have a look at Austrian and German systems and 
alert regulations, which are radically different in some areas, even 
though we can actually talk to each other. I am going to Austria (I 
would like to go to Australia, too, but it is too far for my liking) to 
play in 3 weeks, and I am going to take the time to actually look them 
up and learn the differences, and explain them to my partner on the 
voyage. And tell you what: those differences are there for a purpose, 
and they actually make sense for the relevant countries, but not for the 
other, else they would be the same.
[Nigel]
I do have suggestions about system and disclosure regulation but that’s 
a separate issue.  As far as the other matters are concerned, Mathias and I
disagree.  

IMO integrating laws and regulations into one well-structured global rule-book 
would save space and be easier for directors and players to understand.
(That would also be the case,  if each country had a different integrated rule-book).

When all regulators can focus their efforts on a single set of rules, that  should 
result in a better product with fewer anomalies and ambiguities.

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