관세법상 가격조작죄(제270조의2)의 형법적 정당성 검토

A man who manipulates the price and makes a false return of it on the purpose of unfair profits is punished through the price manipulation regulation that is recently enacted in the Customs Act. First of all, Tatbestand of the price manipulation belongs to an administrative crime, because it is based on the administrative act related to tax imposition. However, the price manipulation regulation belongs to a criminal offence at the same time, in the meaning that punishment is imposed when the regulation is violated. So, the price manipulation should be under the general application of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Act. From this viewpoint, the criminal legitimacy of price manipulation is reviewed in this paper. At first, the legislation of price manipulation is resonable at the aspect of the Criminal Law. However, the criteria for fine calculation should be amended. Next, the Principle of due process in the investigation process seems to be generally observed at the aspect of the Criminal Procedure Act. Because there already is the system of special judicial police officer for the investigation of customs-related offender within the Customs Act. However, several regulations that are able to reinforce the protection of personal information in this investigation need to be legislated in the Customs Act.