[benjulmag]

The merits of licensing is not so much to ensure that competent practioneers ply the trade. I agree with the concerns that the licensing requirements may as a practical matter do little to keep out imcompetent practioneers. Rather the advantage to such a requirement is that it would give the the licensing authority the right to ban those whom by their subsequent actions have been shown to be incompetent and/or unscrupulous. So once it has been shown that a person clearly doesn't know or doesn't care what he is doing, at that point he could be banned. Granted that won't help those adversely impacted by the initial incorrect certifications. But it could materially reduce the number of future victims.