The authority is responsible for ascertaining and preventing potential conflicts of interest among French public servants and officials.
Until 1989, the investigation and application of ethical problems, which included conflicts of interest or chronicles, were included in criminal proceedings, but had no special laws or authority to deal with such affairs until the Luchaire Affair that took place between 1982 and 1986.
[1] During the tenure of Charles Hernu, France supplied shells to Iran.
The newspaper La Presse de la Manche and a report of the Contrôle général des armées published by L'Express in January 1987 revealed that end-user certificates were falsified to show destinations other than Iran, as the country was under an arms embargo at the time.
In 1994, a parliamentary working group led by Philippe Séguin made 18 proposals including the limitation of election expenses, the reformation of the status of political parties, and the extension of the mandatory declaration of status to more categories of public servants.