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

OBJECTIVE: to extend Directive 94/45/EC on the European Works Council to the United Kingdom. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Directive 97/74/EC on the extension to the United Kingdom of Council 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. CONTENT: 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, this directive seeks to extend Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of a European Works Council (cf. "fiche de procédure" SYN94113) to the United Kingdom. Extension of the Directive to the United Kingdom does not alter the material content of the basic text, although technical adjustments are necessary in order to take account of the transnational character of certain provisions of the Directive (number of members of the special negotiating body increased from 17 to 18). ENTRY INTO FORCE: Member States have until 15 December 1999 to transpose the Directive into national legislation.�