Defining Conflicts of Interest in France: an American-Born Challenge to Administrative Law?

The revolving door between public administration and business has long been identified as a conflict-of-interest risk area by international and European institutions. In France, however, the “exit door” between the public and private sectors (called pantouflage) has since the 1990s been regulated with reference to France-specific 19th century criminal offenses (the délit de pantouflage) and to administrative disciplinary procedures. Drawing on archival work and qualitative interviews, this paper looks at the jurisprudence of the French deontology committee for the civil service (in charge of regulating pantouflage) since it was established in the early 1990s, and at how, why and to what extent it evolved to frame the issues raised by pantouflage in conflict-of-interest terms. It will thus provide insights into how French policymakers concretely navigated European/international standards in relationship with French administrative traditions in regulating the practice of pantouflage and, thus, into how anti-conflict-of-interest standards gradually challenged and blurred existing state-business relationships in France.