91996E2041

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2041/96 by Freddy Blak (PSE) to the Commission (19 July 1996)

Subject: European works councils

A large number of voluntary agreements have been reached to pre-empt the directive on European works councils before it enters into force on 22 September 1996.

Does the Commission know how many voluntary agreements have been concluded? Are there any plans for compiling a central data base of voluntary agreements?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (2 October 1996)

The Commission understands from unofficial sources that more than 200 agreements were concluded in multinational companies in anticipation of the transposition into national legislation of Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees by 22 September 1996, the final date for this kind of agreement to enter into force.

The Commission has been working in close cooperation with the European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions (Dublin) in order to compile and publish all the existing agreements. As a result of this cooperation, two editions of the collection of agreements have already been published, the last covering the first 51 agreements concluded in multinational companies ((OJ L 254 of 30.9.1994. )).

By the end of 1996 the Commission intends to publish, jointly with the Dublin Foundation, a final collection of all the agreements concluded under Article 13 of Directive 94/45/EC.