ABSTRACT
This chapter examines, from a legal perspective, the development of regulatory tools designed to manage conflicts of interest (COIs) in the European Union (EU). While European law uses the term COI in about 50 legally binding acts, there is neither a clear legal EU definition of this concept nor a comprehensive EU regulatory framework to deal with COIs issues. This current state of the European law, although perhaps transitional, does not mean that COI is not problematized in the discourse of European institutions. Adopting a contextual approach of law, this chapter explains how COI has emerged at the EU level, how it has been problematized as a threat to democracy and the rule of law, and explores the evolving and complex normative landscape regarding COIs. The analysis pays attention to the interplay between EU actors. Imitating the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), certain European actors convey the idea that COI is a risk, which raises ethical issues manageable by a proceduralization of practices. Empirically, considering the normative pretension of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), its vision of COI, and the content of its practices, the chapter questions the EMA's strategy in managing COIs.
