I'm from the US, and I've never worked for a company that regulated a limit. You only had to check with HR first & ensure you weren't negatively impacting your projects.

Sounds to me like your company got burned by someone taking advantage of their PTO, then overcompensated with this rule.

If your other coworkers aren't happy about it either, band together and bring it up as something to talk about. Explore other solutions together as a company.