Italian translation by Cecilia Valbonesi
The unexpected crossing between free market, protection needs at the time of Covid-19 pandemic and art. 501 bis c.p. provides an opportunity to sound out the ‘state of health’ of this offence, which has been for a long time pointed out for being “born old”. In this context, the purposes of this work are to investigate the residual space of application of the crime ‘Speculative manoeuvres on goods’ and, more specifically, to define what is meant by “criminal speculative maneuver”. Infact, although at the time of its genesis, art. 501 bis c.p. constituted the unique law provision addressing the issue of the illicit price increases, currently, the regulatory landscape is much richer of non-criminal legal rules and offers to the interpreter a rich legal framework allowing an effective reinterpretation of art. 501 bis c.p.