[1] Early on, in slang usage at the École Polytechnique, the word "pantoufle" (French for slipper) referred to the act of avoiding public service after study.
[2] Later, the term also came to refer to the repayment of education costs by individuals who had failed to serve ten years in civil service after obtaining their degree (this is comparable to the practice of "dedit-formation" in France, in which employers might be eligible for reimbursement of expenses by employees who resign prematurely).
As frequently as civil servants leave public work and acquire the "pantoufle," private enterprises recruit students at the conclusion of their studies.
The term "pantouflage" carries a particularly pejorative meaning when it is applied to former civil servants who worked in an administration exercising control over private-sector industry.
Thus, according to article 423-13 of the French criminal code, concerning illegal gains through conflicts of interest:[4] Punishable by two years imprisonment and/or compensatory fines of up to 30,000 Euros, for a person who is charged as having left civil service or public office to assume a private-sector position in an industry over which they had previously exercised influence as a public servant, including:
116 of 3 August 2009, and (ii) Articles 20 and 21 of the Criminal Convention against Corruption, adopted in Strasbourg on 27 January 1999 and ratified under Law no.
It identifies at a national level the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority and the other bodies responsible for carrying out control, prevention and punishment activities against corruption and illegality in the public administration in such a way as to ensure a coordinated action.