Legal support of professional activity - a panacea or a double-edged sword?

Many of us are outraged when drivers (say, taxis or minibuses) are visited by visitors from Central Asia, who know not only Russian but also violate the basic rules of safety and traffic. Abroad, it does not happen that a taxi driver asks the client how to get to the specified address. Why? Because in most countries, in order to obtain a license for private transportation, it is necessary to take exams not only for driving, but also for knowing the city. And now let's imagine what would happen if an incompletely trained doctor asked the patient how to treat it better? Or a civil engineer did not observe (by ignorance) norms and standards? It is to make our life safer, and there is legal support for professional activities. The point is to legislatively determine the norms and criteria that a professional must meet in order to be considered.

However, the legal provision of professional activity is intended not only to prevent hackers and half-educators from entering the labor market. Legal norms - as a regulator of social relations - are created and improved in order to protect professionals. For each industry, there are their own codes, licensing principles, legal provisions. After all, for example, the risk to life and health in the performance of certain types of professional activity is different: if the doctor works with infectious patients, then he must be provided with conditions to protect his health. And the teacher is supposed to have such a load and such leave, which allows to provide preparation for lessons and psychological recovery.

In a number of countries (including Russia), the norms of legal support for professional activity are constantly being revised. For example, if earlier the guide-interpreter could be only after the termination of special courses and obtaining a license, now access to the profession has become much simpler. This is done so that the legal regulation of professional activity does not become an instrument for creating caste. It's no secret that in every industry where licensing is required, there is a danger of prejudiced and selective approach. It is no accident that such professions as a lawyer, a notary, a pharmacist often become "dynastic" not because the children's abilities of the parents are even more vivid, but because access to the profession is not free. To become a lawyer, it is not enough just to finish the law faculty. It is necessary to pass an internship, to study specialization and pass the exam. Unfortunately, often this can not be done without "connections" and "acquaintances". That is, on the one hand, legal support for professional activities protects the interests of society, and on the other, it becomes an instrument for creating "narrow circles" of influential persons who will try to prevent "foreign" people from entering the "bread" profession. The undoubted advantage of having a regulator will be that the candidate will be carefully checked before obtaining a license or a certificate. The undoubted minus is that as in any social relations, here too it is not possible to avoid subjectivity, bias or nepotism.

And this sometimes produces paradoxical situations. For example, there are cases when impostors without professional diplomas and education have successfully engaged in professional activities for several years. If such a lawyer wins business, then, of course, he violates the law - but what is the business before that for clients? Or another example: in the West, in order to become a sworn translator, you must pass a very serious exam and get a license, and, in addition, be a citizen of this country. But, alas, obtaining a license is not equivalent to really thorough knowledge of the language. And often translations made by such specialists must be corrected and corrected. The question naturally arises of improving the procedures and criteria for licensing professional activities. And legal support for professional activities is an area that not only legislators, but also civil society activists should pay attention to.