European works Council, procedure to inform or consult employees: extension Directive 94/45/EC to United Kingdom

OBJECTIVE: extension of Council Directive 94/45/EC on the European Works Council to the United Kingdom. SUBSTANCE: Following the conclusion of the Amsterdam Treaty providing for the incorporation in the Treaty of the Protocol on social policy and the decision by the United Kingdom to accede to the social provisions of the new Treaty, the Commission proposes the extension of Council Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of a European Works Council to that country. Extension of the Directive does not alter the material content of Directive 94/45/EC, though technical adjustments are necessary in order to take account of the transnational character of certain provisions of the Directive. The fifteen Member States would have two years in which to transpose the Directive following the date of its adoption.�