Well, I figured that one would stir up a bit of a hornets' nest!
I'm not sure I have especially strong feelings either way about permits and inspections. I can see how they may be beneficial, but I think a lot must depend upon how the system is run and enforced. We've seen too many similar schemes here (e.g. vehicle inspections) which just seem to increase the bureaucracy and become an excuse to extract more money to disappear into the Treasury.
I'm pretty certain that the sort of "weekend bodgers" who are responsible for some of the worst DIY wiring would be the least likely to comply with rules anyway, and if it's in their own home nobody is likely to ever know about unauthorized wiring anyway (not until after the Fire Dept. investigation, anyhow....)
Should those setting up as professional electricians be licensed? I think there's probably more of a case for this. Some of the work I've seen done by "professionals" here is very bad, and when someone hires a professional person to do a job, they surely have a right to expect that person to be competent to carry out the work safely.
There's always legal redress through our Trading Standards Dept., or the courts, but by then of course, it's usually too late.
