Outside the United States, the competitive landscape was quite different. Although the standardization of regulatory requirements among European Union member countries was expected to create a simpler operating environment, the EU imposed stringent price controls and banned most direct-to-consumer marketing; similar price controls and advertising bans existed in Japan. The operating and competitive environments in developing nations were characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and, while they represented significant opportunities for revenue growth, they lacked the strong intellectual property protection pharmaceutical companies relied on to justify huge investments in R&D.