Under what conditions can a public official combine his employment with a private activity?

Verified 14 May 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

What applies to you ?

Vidéo - How does public service job cumulation work?

Credits : Public Service (DILA)

A public official (official or contract employee) may combine his or her employment in the public service with one or more other paid or unpaid activities.

However, permitted activities are limited and conditions in which they may be exercised are variables :

The following activities may be freely exercised by any public official : volunteer activities, artistic or creative activities, functions of enumerator, harvest contract, functions of volunteer trustee
Certain activities may also be carried out by any public official subject to prior authorization of the employer’s administration
The creating or resuming a company is subject to specific conditions
The public official newly recruited in the public service may to pursue an activity as a director a business or a for-profit association provided that it statement to his employer's administration
Agents occupying a incomplete or incomplete employment of which the working hours shall not exceed 24 hours 30 per week may exercise other gainful employment in the private sector

FYI

Specific rules on the accumulation of activities exist for certain categories of staff (architects, civil servants or employees of the State and public authorities, hospital practitioners). If this is the case, check with your HRD.

You can exercise freely (ie without having to take any steps with your employer administration) the following activities outside of your working hours:

Volunteer activity
Artistic activity
Functions of enumerator
Harvest contract
Functions of volunteer trustee

You can freely exercise these activities as you are civil servant or contractual, on a full-time employment (full-time or part-time) or non-full-time or incomplete employment.

You can freely engage in volunteer activity for the benefit of a public or private non-profit organization.

Your activity must not harm ethical principles of the public service.

You can freely exercise an artistic or creative activity.

You can freely create the following works:

Books, brochures and other literary, artistic and scientific literature
Lectures, speeches, sermons, oral arguments and other similar works
Dramatic or dramatic musical works
Choreographic works, circus numbers and rounds, pantomimes the implementation of which is fixed in writing or otherwise
Musical compositions with or without words
Cinematographic works and other works consisting of animated sequences of images, whether or not with sound, called audiovisual works
Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography
Graphic and typographical works
Photographic works and works made using techniques similar to photography
Works of Applied Arts
Illustrations, maps
Plastic plans, sketches and works relating to geography, topography, architecture and science
Software, including pre-build hardware
Creations of the seasonal clothing and adornment industries

Like any artist, you must respect the copyright rules.

You can freely exercise the functions of enumerator.

You may freely conclude, during your annual leave, a contract to participate in the harvest of a maximum duration of one month, renewable up to a maximum of two months over a period of 12 months.

You can freely exercise the volunteer trustee duties of the condominium in which you are the owner yourself.

Your employer's administration may authorize you, at your request, to carry out an activity ancillary to your public employment, whether gainful or not, with a public or private person or body.

This activity must not impair the normal functioning, independence or neutrality of the service.

Nor should it put you in a situation of conflict of interest.

You may be authorized to engage in one or more of the following activities:

Expertise and consultation : this expertise or consultation is not limited to your professional area of expertise or the nature of your current duties in the administration. However, you are prohibited from giving consultations, conducting expert opinions or arguing in court in disputes involving a public person, before a French, foreign or international court, unless this service is for the benefit of a public person not in the competitive sector. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Education and training : education or training may be in a subject or field that is not necessarily related to your main activity. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Activity of a sporting or cultural nature, including coaching and animation in the fields of sport, culture or popular education. This includes the following activities: sports coach, dance teacher, tourist guide, hiking guide, animator of aerated centers or holiday camps, etc. This activity can be carried out under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Agricultural activity on a holding whether or not constituted as a business. If the holding is set up as a business, you must not perform the duties of manager, director-general or member of the board of directors unless it is the management of your personal and family assets. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Contributing spouse activity within a company craft, commercial or professional: the spouse of the head of a commercial, craft or professional company is considered to be a collaborating spouse if he or she carries on a regular professional activity in the company without receiving remuneration and without having the status of partner. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Home help to one ascendant, a descendant, to your husband, partner of Civil partnerships: titleContent or cohabitation allowing you to collect, possibly in exchange for the aid that you bring, the corresponding allocations (Apa, PCH). This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Low-level work in individuals : this includes household and family work and small gardening operations, including brush clearing on small areas. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Activity of general interest exercised with a public person or with a private non-profit person (association, foundation, association contributing to the public service). In the case of insured activity with a public person, it cannot be a question of filling a vacancy, including a non-full-time or incomplete job, irrespective of the duration of work. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Public interest mission of international cooperation or with bodies of general interest of an international nature or a foreigner State. This activity may be pursued under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Personal services.This covers the following activities: childcare, assistance for the elderly, disabled persons or other persons who need personal assistance at home or mobility assistance, household or family tasks for persons at home. This activity must obligatory be exercised under the status of micro-entrepreneur
Sale of personally produced goods : this activity must be carried out under the status of micro-entrepreneur
School bus driver : authorization may not be granted to you for a period of beyond 29 december 2025

Before you start your business, you must address to your employer administration a written request which shall include at least the following information:

Identity of the employer or nature of the body on whose behalf you will carry out your ancillary activity
Nature, duration, periodicity and conditions of remuneration of this activity

You may submit any other relevant information with your application.

Your employer administration acknowledges receipt of your request. If they feel they do not have all the information they need to respond to your request, they will ask you to fill it out in a maximum of 15 days upon receipt of your request.

Your employer administration sends you its decision within one month of receipt of your request.

In the absence of a written decision within this period, your request shall be considered refused.

The decision of your employer administration may contain reservations and recommendations to ensure compliance with your ethical obligations and normal operation of the service.

The decision states that the ancillary activity can only be performed outside your working hours.

Your employer administration may refuse your request for the cumulation of activities or oppose your continuing to exercise it for the following reasons:

This is justified by the interest of the service
The information you provided during your request is incorrect
This combination of activities is incompatible with your duties, given your ethical obligations

Any substantial change in the conditions governing the exercise or remuneration of your ancillary activity shall be treated as a new activity and shall be the subject of a new application for authorization.

If you have a full-time job, you can apply for part-time work to set up or take over a company and to carry on a private activity for which payment is made under that company.

Part-time work is obligatory to create or resume a company.

Part-time may not be less than half-time.

FYI

If you want to create or take over a company, you can also take advantage of a availability if you are a public servant, or unpaid leave, if you are a contractual person.

You must submit your part-time application before you start your business entrepreneurial.

Your application file must contain the following documents:

A letter that says you want to take part time to start or resume a company
Description of the envisaged project containing all relevant and detailed information enabling your employer's administration to assess your request
Statuses or draft statuses of the company you want to create or take over
Copy of your employment contract if you are a contractual

If your employer administration considers that it does not have all the information allowing it to make its decision, it invites you to complete your application in a maximum of 15 days upon receipt of your request.

Please note

A staff member may be granted a new authorization to work part-time in order to set up or take over a company provided that a minimum of three years has elapsed since the previous authorization was granted.

Examination of the application

Your employer's administration will consider whether the activity you plan to undertake could jeopardize or jeopardize the normal functioning, independence or neutrality of the service.

Your employer administration also ensures that the activity you are considering does not adversely affect principles of ethics in the public service and don't put you in a situation of conflict of interest.

The decision of the authority responsible for the staff member may include reservations aimed at ensuring compliance with the ethical obligations referred to in the first subparagraph and the normal functioning of the service.

Administration Response

Your employer administration will communicate its decision within 2 months of receipt of your request.

Permission to work part-time is granted, subject to service requirements, for a maximum duration of 3 years.

The authorization to work part-time shall start from the date on which the company is created or taken over.

At the end of the 3 years, you can request the renewal for a maximum duration of one year your authorization to work part-time.

You must submit your renewal application at least 1 month before the end of the initial 3-year period.

Lack of response from your employer administration within 2 months upon receipt of your request is refusal.

Opinion of the Ethics Officer

If your employer authority has a serious doubt on the compatibility of your project creating or resuming a company with the functions which you have exercised in the preceding 3 years your request for part-time, she enters for opinion the ethics referent.

The fact that the ethics referee is consulted does not extend the two-month period within which your employer administration must respond to your part-time request.

Consultation of the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP)

When the opinion of the ethics referent does not remove the doubt, your employer authority shall opinion the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP)

The fact that the HATVP is seized extends the 2-month period within which your employer administration must respond to your part-time request.

The HATVP may ask you and your employer administration for any information or document necessary for the review of your project.

The HATVP may also collect from public and private persons any necessary information.

It may hear or consult any person whose contribution it considers useful.

The HATVP issues an opinion on compatibility or qualified compatibility (for up to 3 years) orincompatibility.

The HATVP gives its opinion within 2 months according to its referral. L'absence of opinion within this period of 2 months shall be deemed to have been compatibility.

A notice of compatibility with reservations and/or incompatibility is required from you and your employer administration.

Your employer administration shall make its decision within 15 days of receipt of the HATVP's notice or within 2 months of the HATVP's referral if no HATVP's notice is received within 2 months of the HATVP's referral.

If you are admitted to a competition access to the public service and if you were previously director of a business or for-profit association, you may continue to exercise this leadership activity for one year, renewable once, based on your recruitment to the public service.

This also applies if you are recruited as a contractor in the public service.

You must submit a written statement to your employer administration upon your appointment as a probationary employee or prior to the signing of your contract.

Your statement refers to the form and purpose of the company or association, its sector and industry.

The continuation of this activity as a manager must be compatible with your service obligations.

It shall not affect the normal functioning, independence, neutrality of service or ethical principles.

This activity should not place you in a situation of conflict of interest.

If you occupy a permanent non-full-time or incomplete employment of which the working hours shall not exceed 24 hours 30 per week, you can exercise one (or more) other gainful employment in the private sector.

This other activity must be consistent with your public service obligations and duties.

Your employer administration must inform you of this possibility.

Before you start your business, you must submit a written statement to your employer administration.

That declaration shall state the nature of the private activity or activities envisaged and, where appropriate, the form and object of the company, its sector and branch of activity.

Ask your HRD if they have a reporting template in place.

Reminder

You can have multiple non-full-time or incomplete jobs in different employer jurisdictions. In this case, you must inform each administration of your other jobs.