The Business Licensing Facilitation Act, ratified by the Guardian Council in 2022, supplements the policy for implementing the general principles of Article 44 of the Constitution. The Act imposes specific obligations on license applicants, including legal professionals, such as annual bar admission examinations and adherence to mandatory professional standards through the execution of a formal commitment.
This research critically examines the Act from the standpoint of competitiveness within the legal profession, identifying its innovative elements and inherent shortcomings. Furthermore, it provides a comparative analysis of strategies employed in the legal system of the United States to foster lawyer competitiveness, offering insights for potential reforms.
Key innovations of the Act include the delegation of bar examination responsibilities to the Judiciary, the assignment of licensing oversight to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, granting entities other than the Bar Association the authority to suspend or revoke licenses, and treating bar licenses as preliminary permits rather than final credentials.
Despite these novel elements, several significant challenges emerge: ambiguities surrounding the legal framework for promoting competition, a fundamental misapprehension by lawmakers regarding the nature of legal services, and the inability to fulfill the Act's intended objectives. These deficiencies may adversely impact the competitiveness and quality of legal services, creating procedural complexities and introducing new legal and administrative challenges rather than improving service standards.