61996B0135

Procedure - Intervention - Persons having an interest - Dispute concerning the validity of a directive in the field of social policy - Action brought by an organization for the representation of employers at Community level which was not able to participate in the collective bargaining which preceded the adoption of the directive - Application for leave to intervene by national organizations which are members of the applicant organization and claim to have an interest of their own, arising from their role at the stage of adoption of national measures to transpose directives - Admissibility

(EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 37, second para.; Council Directive 96/34)

Under the second paragraph of Article 37 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, the right to intervene is subject only to the condition that the applicant for leave to intervene establishes an interest in the result of the case submitted to the Court of First Instance.

In an action for annulment of Directive 96/34 on the framework agreement on parental leave, brought by an organization which represents at European level the interests of craft, small and medium-sized enterprises but which was not able to participate in the collective bargaining which preceded the adoption of the directive, an interest in the result of the case is established by national associations which are members of the applicant, represent the same interests at national level and are able to demonstrate an interest of their own, distinct from that of the applicant and connected with the limitation imposed by the directive on their freedom of negotiation at the stage of the adoption of national measures for the transposition of the directive.