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MONACO LAW REVIEW | DECEMBER 2025 | SPECIAL REPORT
The PNF meets the challenge of handling
complex economic cases within an average
timeframe of fewer than three years,
despite having limited investigative
resources.
To achieve this, it relies on all the tools available to it, in
particular corporate cooperation in proceedings involving
conventions judiciaires d’intérêt public (CJIPs), the French
form of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs), and
negotiated justice in comparutions sur reconnaissance
préalable de culpabilité (CRPCs), the French plea bargaining
mechanism.
Since its creation by the PERBEN II Act of 2004, the CRPC has
seen its scope extended to new offences, including economic
and fi nancial matters. The PNF’s activity in this area has been
particularly dynamic, with the number of CRPC approvals
increasing from 10 in 2018, to 18 in 2022, and 38 in 2024.
A total of 158 CRPCs have been approved since the PNF’s
creation, evenly divided between tax and probity offences,
with a growing number in market-related matters.
CJIPs, introduced by the SAPIN II Act of 201619, have also
added a new dimension to economic and fi nancial justice.
Since October 2017, 27 CJIPs have been entered into by the
PNF and approved by the President of the Paris Judicial
Court, amounting to a total of EUR 4.138 billion in fi nes,
allocated 65% to probity matters and 35% to tax matters.
They may include, where applicable, the implementation
of compliance programmes supervised by the French Anti-
Corruption Agency (AFA), as well as compensation for
victims identifi ed by the prosecution.
The deployment of this balanced prosecutorial tool –
the predictability of which was strengthened by the
publication, in January 2023, of the PNF’s “Guidelines on the
implementation of the convention judiciaire d’intérêt public” –
has contributed to deep structural changes in French legal
and judicial culture. A new form of dialogue has emerged
between prosecutors and defence counsel, alongside the
development of self-reporting practices by companies.
18|Offences for which the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) has exclusive
criminal jurisdiction.
19|Comparable to the “deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)” used in the Anglo-American
legal system.
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