2 Duties

Civil servants have duties; failure to carry them out may result in disciplinary action, up to discharge. The main duties are:

2.1 Full commitment to professional activity

A civil servant should devote his full professional activity to his appointed task. By exception, a civil servant may in addition to his regular activities write books; he may also accomplish certain tasks (teaching...) with the permission of his hierarchical supervisor.

2.2 Morality

One cannot be a civil servant if one has been convicted of a crime incompatible with one's functions.

In certain exceptional cases, certain aspects of the private life of a civil servant may be termed incompatible with his functions. For instance, it is inappropriate for a member of the police or the judiciary to live with a delinquent partner or a prostitute. Appreciation of what is appropriate or not is largely a matter of jurisprudenceJurisprudence (from Latin: juris prudentia by the activity of prudentes advisors, experts), is the philosophy, science, study, and application of law. History Jurisprudence already had this meaning in ancient Rome, even if at its origins the discipline wa.

2.3 Reserve

A civil servant should not, by his actions and especially by his declarations, cause harm to institutions. Appreciation of what is appropriate or not is largely a matter of jurisprudenceJurisprudence (from Latin: juris prudentia by the activity of prudentes advisors, experts), is the philosophy, science, study, and application of law. History Jurisprudence already had this meaning in ancient Rome, even if at its origins the discipline wa.

Generally speaking, a civil servant should always refrain from enunciating personal opinions in a manner that can be construed as expressing the official opinion of the French government or a public institution. Obviously, this is more of a matter for the higher managerial positions. Agents operating abroad should be especially prudent. For instance, an ambassador should refrain from making any private comment on international issues.

The academic freedomAcademic freedom is a widely used and championed phrase, but an often poorly defined concept with different meanings in different cultures and different contexts. It can refer to the alleged right of students, teachers or academic institutions to do or be of university professorsA professor is a senior teacher and researcher, usually in a college or university. Overview Professors give lectures and seminars in their field of study, such as science or literature. They also do advanced research in their fields and are supposed to d is a fundamental principle recognized by the laws of the Republic, as defined by the Constitutional Council ; furthermore, statute law declares about higher educationHigher education is education provided by universities and other institutions that award academic degrees, such as university colleges, and liberal arts colleges. Higher education includes both the teaching and the research activities of universities, and that teachers-researchers [university professors and assistant professors], researchers and teachers are fully independent and enjoy full freedom of speechFreedom of speech is the right to freely say what you please, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. It is self-explanatory. Recently, it has been commonly understood as encompassing full freedom of expression including the freedom in the course of their researchFor the suburb of Melbourne, Australia, see Research, Victoria. Research is an active, diligent and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviors, or theories, or to make practical applications with the h and teaching activities, provided they respect, following university traditions and the dispositions of this code, principles of tolerance and objectivity (Education Code, L952-2).

2.4 Hierarchical obedience

A civil servant must accomplish the orders given by his hierarchical supervisor, unless those orders are evidently illegal and contrary to public interest.

While the hierarchical authority is normally responsible for assigning civil servants to positions and evaluating their work, certain corps of civil servants follow specific rules regarding the management, evaluation and discipline of their members. For instance, professors and researchers are evaluated by elected committees of their peers.

2.5 Professional discretion

Civil servants must not reveal private or secret information that they have gained in the course of their duties.

2.6 Honesty

Civil servants must not use the means at his professional disposal for private gain.

2.7 Neutrality

Civil servant must be neutral with respect to the religious or political opinions, origin, or sex, and should refrain from expressing their own opinions.

3 Recruitment and career

As an exception to the general rules concerning workers, civil servants do not sign contracts; their situation is defined by statutory and regulatory dispositions, most notably the General Statute of the Civil Servants (Statut Général des Fonctionnaires).

The general rule is that civil servants are recruited through competitive exams , either:

• external, reserved to competitors fulfilling certain conditions of diplomas and age;
• internal, reserved to civil servants in certain positions;
• external, reserved to competitors having certain professional experience and age.

The most common method is to organize written and/or oral exams in subjects pertaining to the tasks to be accomplished. For certain positions, such as professorships in universities, the exam, organized locally for each position or each set of similar positions, consists in the submission of a file listing the professional qualifications and experience of the candidate, followed by an interview. In all cases, a committee ranks candidates by order of preference; the positions are filled by the candidates accepting them called in that order of preference. For some top managerial positions, nominations are at the discretion of the executive.

High lever nominations are made by the President of the Republic in the council of ministers. The rest are by the head of the agency they belong to, or by a minister; in fact, they are in general appointed by some person who has received from the head of agency or minister the authority to do so.

4 Statistics

On December 31, 1999, official statistics give for the state civil service:

Ministries	Civil servants	Ouvriers d'État	Other civilian employees	Military personnel	Total
Foreign affairs	7 159	150	6 767	974	15 050
Agriculture	29 724	34	8 316	23	38 097
Veteran affairs	1 934	76	337	20	2 367
Cooperation with foreign countries	1 851		1 660	585	4 096
Culture	12 212		2 532		14 744
Defense	33 324	49 763	7 979	318 057	409 123
Economy, finances and industry	187 728	739	16 005	348	204 820
National education	942 651		96 487	4	1 039 142
Employment and solidarity	22 928		7 158	22	30 108
Higher education	117 411	8	17 088		134 507
Equipment, housing, transportation	95 797	9 508	11 359	547	117 211
Interior (including police)	161 978	1 593	20 410 (1)	34	184 015
Youth and sports	6 411		4 093		10 504
Justice	61 232		4 764	2	65 998
Overseas affairs	2 171		468	865	3 504
Research	20		9 041		9 061
Services of the prime minister	1 367	666	1 127		3 160
Total	1 685 898	62 537	215 591	321 481	2 285 507

(1) Including 12,000 young employees on limited time contracts.

5 External link

• Ministry of the Civil Service

French government

<Hide>