Title IV: European Works Council or information and consultation procedure in Community-scale undertakings

For the purposes of this Title, a Community-scale undertaking means an undertaking or body which employs at least one thousand employees in the Member States of the European Community or the European Economic Area and which has at least one establishment employing at least one hundred and fifty employees in at least two of those States.

For the purposes of this Title, a Community-scale group of undertakings means a group, within the meaning of Article L. 2331-1, which satisfies the conditions relating to the number of employees and the nature of the business mentioned in Article L. 2341-1 and which includes at least one undertaking employing at least one hundred and fifty employees in at least two of the States mentioned in that same Article.

The provisions of this Title apply to 1° to a Community-scale undertaking or group of undertakings whose registered office or that of the parent undertaking is in France ; 2° To the Community-scale undertaking or group of undertakings whose registered office or that of the dominant undertaking is located in a State other than those mentioned in Article L. 2341-1 and which has appointed a representative in France for the…

A European Works Council or an information and consultation procedure is set up in Community-scale undertakings or groups of undertakings in order to guarantee employees’ right to information and consultation at European level.

For the purposes of this Title, a dominant undertaking is defined in Article L. 2331-1.

The consultation provided for in this Title shall consist, for the head of the undertaking or the leading undertaking in the Community-scale group of undertakings or any other more appropriate level of management, in organising an exchange of views and establishing a dialogue with the representatives of the employees at a time, in such a way and with such content as to enable them to express, on the basis of…

The information provided for in this Title shall consist, for the head of the undertaking or the leading undertaking in the Community-scale group of undertakings or any other more appropriate level of management, in forwarding information to the employees’ representatives in order to enable them to become acquainted with the subject under consideration and to examine it. The information shall be provided at an appropriate time, in an appropriate manner…

The competence of the European Works Council or the procedure mentioned in article L. 2341-4 concerns transnational issues. Transnational issues are those which concern the entire Community-scale undertaking or group of undertakings or at least two undertakings or establishments of the undertaking or group situated in two Member States.

The information and consultation of the European Works Council are coordinated with those of the other staff representative bodies mentioned in this book and those set up in application of the law of the Member State in whose territory the undertaking or establishment is located, according to their respective competences and areas of intervention. When the European Works Council is set up in the absence of an agreement or when…

If significant changes occur in the structure of the Community-scale undertaking or Community-scale group of undertakings, either in the absence of provisions provided for by the agreement(s) in force or in the event of conflicts between the provisions of two or more applicable agreements, the head of the undertaking or the dominant undertaking in the Community-scale group of undertakings shall initiate the negotiations referred to in Article L. 2342-1 on…