Anti-Corruption and Integrity Outlook 2024 – Country Notes: France

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Contextual factors

 

State structure	Executive power	Legislative system	Legal system
Unitary	Dual executive	Bicameral	Civil law

Strategy and institutions on anti-corruption and public integrity

France had an anti-corruption strategy that expired in 2022 – the National Multi-Year Plan to Fight Corruption 2020-2022 – that set priorities such as strengthening data analysis to better understand and detect corruption, raising awareness among public employees and enhancing international outreach. France is currently developing a new national anti-corruption strategy, the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2024-2027.

In terms of institutions, the French Anti-Corruption Agency is the central body responsible for coordinating the implementation of measures related to anti-corruption. France has central government functions for public integrity and lobbying issues (High Authority for Transparency in Public Life), public information issues (Commission for Access to Administrative Documents) and open data policy (Etalab) and an independent body for political finance (National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing). The Inter-ministerial Committee for Internal Control and Internal Audit is the central harmonisation unit responsible for coordinating internal control and internal audit across the public administration. The Interministerial Anti-Fraud Coordination Mission coordinates the fight against fraud in public financial management.

Overview

 

Greatest strengths	Areas to improve
Lobbying	Anti-corruption strategy
Conflict of interest	Political finance - implementation
Political finance - regulation	Transparency of public information - implementation

Anti-corruption strategy

Based on data from the anti-corruption strategy that expired in 2022– the National Multi-Year Plan to Fight Corruption (2020-2022) – France established strategic objectives to mitigate public integrity risks in many areas, including human resource management, public financial management, public procurement, fraud, and internal control and internal audit. Although the strategy was based on an assessment of existing public integrity risks, it did not include a situation analysis, outcome indicators for public integrity objectives or target values set for all outcome-level indicators. The Anti-Corruption Agency held a central coordination function and was responsible for coordinating the implementation, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of the action plan. While the National Multi-Year Plan to Fight Corruption 2020-2022 included a list of actions for each priority, the inter-ministerial anti-fraud coordination mission had no operationalised action plan.

However, as of March 2024, France is currently developing a new anti-corruption strategy, the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2024-2027.

Corruption risk management and audit

As measured against OECD standards on risk management, which includes internal control and internal audit, France fulfils 80% of criteria for regulations but did not provide data for implementation, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 33%, respectively.

The regulatory framework defines internal control and internal audit according to international standards, the managerial responsibility regarding the implementation of IC and IA, the operational arrangements for IA, and allows these arrangements to differ depending on the type and size of the institutions.

Lobbying

As measured against OECD standards on lobbying, France is among the top performers, fulfilling 75% of criteria for regulations and the only OECD member country to fulfil 100% of criteria for practice, compared to the OECD average of 38% and 35%, respectively.

The regulatory framework defines lobbying activities, contains practical examples of at-risk or undesirable behaviours and situations, establishes cooling off periods for public officials – but not lobbyists – and proportional sanctions for breaches of provisions. In practice, the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life is the central supervisory function overseeing transparency of lobbying activities. The lobbying register contains all standard information, such as the name of the lobbyist, the domain of intervention, the piece of legislation or regulation targeted, and the related budget/expenses for lobbying activities.

Conflict of interest

As measured against OECD standards on conflict of interest, France is among the top performers, fulfilling 100% of criteria for regulations and 89% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 76% and 40%, respectively.

The comprehensive regulatory framework (Law on Public Transparency – LOI n° 2013-907) defines how to manage conflict-of-interest situations at various levels of government and includes proportional sanctions for breaches of provisions on conflicts of interest. Additionally, ministers, members of parliament, high ranking judges and public employees in a high-risk position are all legally required to declare their interests. In practice, submission rates for interest declarations are high (96% or above) and the responsible authority, the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, issues recommendations for resolution for all cases of conflict of interest.

Political finance

As measured against OECD standards on political finance, France fulfils 100% of criteria for regulations and 57% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 73% and 58%, respectively.

The regulatory framework includes all standard regulatory safeguards. For example, political parties cannot receive anonymous donations or financial contributions from state owned enterprises, foreign states and foreign enterprises, and they must report their annual and campaign finances. Additionally, electoral candidates can be held personally liable for breaches and be sanctioned, electoral campaigns are limited to a ceiling, and sanctions for breaches of regulations are proportional to the severity of the offence. However, in practice, the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Financing has no certified auditors on its payrolls and not all political parties have submitted their financial reports – annual or campaigns – within the timelines defined by national legislation.

Transparency of public information

As measured against OECD standards on public information, which includes access to public information and open data, France fulfils 89% of criteria for regulations and 73% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 62%, respectively.

The strong regulatory framework establishes that government data are “open by default”, defines deadlines to process requests, defines a mandatory list of datasets to be disclosed and ensures the right to appeal in case of refusal. In practice, a supervisory body responsible for public information is established, a central government body is responsible for open data policy, most standard datasets are publicly available, such as consolidated versions of all primary laws, but some are not, such as ministers’ agendas and the results of all public tenders awarded by central government.