Lawyers. Regulators. Politicians. Most countries are swamped with regulations that are inflexible, insist on not recognising testing/accreditation done in other countries by default, exist to provide a moat for an entrenched interest group, etc.
The regulations for wifi are published and well known. Google just couldn't be bothered to get certification - the end result being that legitimate pixel owners arent able to use their devices when they go to certain countries. Its just laziness on googles part, and it is the consumer of their own products who suffer.
As I said - its laziness on googles part - and the result is a device that their consumers cant use when traveling.
Its not like they even need certification as they aren't selling them there, they just needed to make their device use the relevant channels to avoid interference and adhere to power limits.
