The European Commission recently launched a renewed social agenda. It included proposals for a revised European Works Councils (EWC) directive which could force organisations within its scope to meet employee demands to set up an EWC and those with existing agreements to renegotiate them. More than 1,400 European-based organisations, of which 800 are UK-based, could find themselves with an EWC for the first time.

The commission’s proposals have to be approved by ministers and then sent to the European Parliament for further debate. This process will take a couple of months, but the EC is keen to have the new directive published by the end of the year, so we can expect it to be in force by the end of 2008 or early 2009. Member states are usually given two years to implement directives at a national level, although this time limit can be extended.