Why by law?
 

For certain Star benefits, like priority standby and upgrades, it says where allowed by law.

Where/why are these these things restricted by law.

Thanks, Flyer

I would guess that certain intra-country services (like the Rio-SP airbridge in Brazil, or the KUL-SIN shuttle that are revenue shared btwn SQ and MH) are locally regulated and don't have "status-type" upgrades going on---it is only a guess, though.

Germany was (is?) very restrictive with some frequent-flier /frequent-guests/etc. etc. perks. LH is still in a fight with the german anti-trust people if their (miles&more) LH-credit-cards rules are acceptable. Sheraton (the FRA airport one I know) was, for a long time, not allowed to credit Sheraton points (for legal reasons they said) they did compensate with vouchers on food etc.