「영유아보육법」상 어린이집 평가등급 부여결정의 공표와 「행정절차법」상 문서주의 - 대법원 2023. 12. 7. 선고 2022두52522 판결을 소재로 하여 -

Article 24(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act provides for the principles of documentism regarding the method of disposition. However, Article 30(3) of the Child Care Act and Article 32-3(2) of the Enforcement Rules of the Child Care Act provide for the method of “publication” in regard to indicating outside a decision to give a rating to daycare centers. The issue here is whether these provisions are exceptions to the documentary principle set forth in Article 24(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act because they are applied as a special provisions “where there are special provisions in other laws, etc.” The significance of the ruling in question lies in the fact that it specified for the first time that Article 30(3) of the Child Care Act, which stipulate the dispositive nature of the act of giving a rating to daycare centers, and Article 32-3(2) of the Enforcement Rules of the same Act are special provisions and therefore exceptions to the documentism principle of Article 24(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act. On the other hand, the implications of the that ruling, which recognized an exception to documentism principle, are as follows. First, from a legislative perspective, it is necessary to clearly stipulate that the exception to the documentism principle in Article 24(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act constitutes a special provision in relation to the Administrative Procedure Act in accordance with the principle of clarity from the viewpoint of effective protection of rights of the public. In addition, it is necessary to actively consider diversifying or changing the methods of disposition in response to rapid changes in the administrative environment, such as electronization and digitization, especially the development of artificial intelligence and smart administration.