The complainant raised concerns about the move of a former European Commission staff member to a job with a transnational corporation. In particular, the complainant was concerned that the move gave rise to conflict of interest concerns and that the Commission may not have properly assessed these before approving the 'post-service activity'. Before moving to the role with the corporation, the former staff member had left the Commission to join a global law firm.

The Ombudsman found that, in the context of authorising the initial move to the law firm, the Commission had adopted measures to mitigate the risk posed by the former staff member working on files or cases that would be relevant for that job. The Commission’s decision to authorise the move also included several restrictions such as a prohibition to work on cases that fell under their responsibility while in service as well as on directly related cases. To help the former staff member identify these cases, the Commission provided a list, which it also updated after the staff member had left.

Concerning the former staff member’s subsequent move to the transnational corporation, the Ombudsman found that the Commission had adopted a robust approach to assessing whether competition cases not included in the list could nonetheless lead to a conflict of interest.

As a result, the Ombudsman closed the inquiry concluding that there had been no maladministration.