Public Law Studies Quarterly

Evaluation of Articles 16 and 17 of the Act on “Removing Barriers to Competitive Production” Based on the Method of “Regulatory Impact Assessment”

Document Type : Article

Authors

Seyed Amirhosein Seyedi 1
Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Ghamami 2

1 Deputy of Banking Law think thank & PhD student in public law at Imam Sadiq University (AS), Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Prof. Department of Public Law at Islamic Studies and Law Faculty at Imam Sadiq University (AS), Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22059/jplsq.2025.389722.3683
Abstract
Despite the institutional design of banks as vehicles for monetary operations within national and international economic frameworks, factors such as negative real interest rates have driven them toward alternative profit-generating practices. These practices, commonly termed in legal-economic contexts as "business ownership," "commercial investments," or "banking-related legal partnerships," have proliferated. While this systemic issue has become markedly prevalent in Iran, the legislature, in a delayed response, initially enacted Articles 16 and 17 of the Act on Removing Obstacles to Competitive Production. However, nearly a decade after their adoption, these provisions have not only failed to resolve the problem of banks’ commercial engagements but have also led to stricter regulatory measures under Article 8 of the Seventh Development Plan Law. The research hypothesizes is that Articles 16 and 17 of the aforementioned law have inadequately regulated banks’ commercial activities due to critical legislative flaws, including deficient legislative understanding of the issue’s complexity, ineffective legal drafting (e.g., ambiguous terminology, lack of coherence, perpetually exploitable exceptions, absence of illustrative case examples), unverifiable provisions, and lax regulatory standards that conflict with legislative objectives, compounded by institutional conflicts of interest. To validate this hypothesis, the authors employ a descriptive-analytical methodology to define the scope and multidimensional nature of banks’ commercial activities and retrospectively assess the law’s impact during the post-implementation phase. The analysis reveals that Articles 16 and 17 adopt an excessively prohibitive approach toward banks’ commercial engagements, failing to establish a framework for effective regulation. This conclusively corroborates the hypothesis that structural deficiencies in legislative design and implementation have rendered these provisions ineffective.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship
banking
investment
competitive production
surplus property
Subjects

  1. References In Persian:

    1. A) Books
    2. Saeed, P. (2003). A Guide to Policy Making in Legislation: A Study of the Model of “Legal Impact Assessment” (RIA). Tehran: Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (In Persian).
    3. Vakilian, H. (2011). Discourses on Law and Legislation (Collection of Articles). Tehran: Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (In Persian).

     

    1. B) Articles
    2. Rostami, M., & Badini, H. (2019). Entrepreneurship of Pension Funds in the Iranian Social Security System. Quarterly Journal of Public Law Research, 21 (63), 269-294 (In Persian).
    3. Karimi Vardanjani, R., Hassanzadeh Sarvestani, H., Ghavam, M. H., & Ghaffari, A. (2019). Identifying and Ranking the Factors Affecting the Creation of Entrepreneurship Phenomenon in the Banking System of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Explaining Its Consequences. Bi-Quarterly Journal of Islamic Financial Research, 10 (1), 377-410 (In Persian).
    4. Saberi, A., & Tahan Nazif, H. (1400). The Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Necessity of Assessing the Impacts of Laws in the Legislative Stage. Quarterly Journal of Public Law Knowledge, 10 (34), 113-132 (In Persian).
    5. Saberi, A., Ghamami, S. M. M., & Makarem, R. (1403). The Institutional Capacity of the Iranian Legal System to Assess the Economic Impacts of Laws. Encyclopedia of Economic Law, 31 (25), 37-56 (In Persian).
    6. Nasiri Aghdam, A., & Fatehizadeh, M. (1390). The Contribution of the Private and Public Sectors in the Transfer of State-Owned Companies. Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, 8 (16), 9-48 (In Persian).
    7. Vakilian, H., & Markaz Mallmiri, A. (1395). Introduction to the Philosophy of Legislation: In the Effort to Improve the Quality of Law. Public Law Research, 18 (51), 29-54 (In Persian).

     

    1. C) Research Reports
    2. Ebrahimi, S., & Khansari, R. (1399). A Study of Different Methods of Transferring Bank Surplus Assets; Recommendations and solutions. Tehran: Monetary and Banking Research Institute (In Persian).
    3. Rouhani, S. A. (2014). Expert opinion on: The plan to add seven clauses to Article (34) of the country’s monetary and banking law. Tehran: Majles Research Center (In Persian).
    4. Markaz Mallmiri, A. (2014). Assessing the effects of the law in Iran (2. Participation of economic activists in assessing the burden of regulations). Tehran: Majles Research Center (In Persian).
    5. Nazarian Mofid, M. T., & Hosseini, S. K. (2018). Performance report of the law on removing barriers to competitive production and improving the country’s financial system in the field of financial markets. Tehran: Majles Research Center (In Persian).

     

    1. D) Newspapers
    2. Arshadi, Ali. (07/19/2014). Corporate banks or banker corporations. Tehran: Donyaye Eqtesad Newspaper No. 3318 (In Persian).
Public Law Studies Quarterly
Volume 56, Issue 1 - Serial Number 45
Spring 2026
Spring 2026
Pages 421-445

  • Receive Date 14 February 2025
  • Revise Date 24 February 2026
  • Accept Date 05 May 2025

Home

Journal Process Ethics

Peer Review Process

Submission

Indexing and Abstracting

Contact Us