Information and consultation in the European Community Implementation report of Directive 2002/14/EC

Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community came into force in most of the domestic laws of European Union Member States at the date of the deadline fixed in article 11, i.e. on March 23, 2005.
Directive 2002/14/EC is a substantial contribution towards the consolidation of European Community social law. It is the first EU directive to establish a general obligation to inform and consult employees and it represents a vital complement to the existing fragmented Community system providing for the right of employees to be informed and consulted in special situations in the life of their undertaking. In this manner, four years after the Renault Vilvorde affair, directive 2004/14/EC offers a general framework for the information and consultation of employees in the European Union, bringing democracy to undertakings in Europe and thereby the continental model of employee representation.
The main purpose of this comparative report is to analyse the domestic implementation provisions of directive 2002/14/EC in the EU Members States and some of the acceding countries. It focuses on the stumbling blocks for national transposition. It appears already that many Member States adopt a minimal interpretation in their transposition measures. Additionally, the second purpose of the report is to relate the hard and difficult climb to democracy in the undertaking in Europe. It shows, that the right to information and consultation, a European social value and a major and fundamental trade union right, remains a fragile ‘acquis’ in the European Union, calling for a mobilisation of all the
bodies concerned.

ETUI Report (2006.97): Information and consultation in the European Community: Implementation report of Directive 2002/14/EC http://www.etui.org/Publications2/Reports/Information-and-consultation-in-the-European-Community

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