he European Commission to present its draft revision of the EWC directive. Once started though, it only took a few months to be adopted. The compromise reached in December 2008 will be permanently adopted on April 23, during the Council of EU Ministers for Agriculture. The Parliament will sign it on May 6th. It will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The will start the countdown for Member States which have to transpose the new provisions introduced, and for businesses deciding to anticipate change. Here is a comprehensive comment on the changes brought in by the new text. (Ref. 090394)
Since this note is very long, a more readable word version is attached.
Proposed by the European Commission in July 2008 (see our dispatch No. 080553), the draft revision of the EWC directive reached a final compromise in December 2008, thanks to the ever-so useful helping hand of the social partners (see our dispatch No. 080643). The text attached isn’t the official version of the revised directive, but only the outlines should be modified.
Better information and consultation. The new directive introduces the definition of information and expanded the definition of consultation to ensure their “effectiveness.” To that end, it determines criteria of appropriate time, content and fashion.
- Information is “transmission of data by the employer to the employees’ representatives in order to enable them to acquaint themselves with the subject matter and to examine it.”