Eurofound recently published a comparative report on developments in employee information and consultation practices across the EU. The report is based on 26 national reports that are also available on the Foundation website. One of the conclusions is that five years after the implementation date of Directive 2002/14/EC the procedures for establishing information and consultation arrangements and the scope for organisation- or sector-specific models via collective agreement vary considerably between countries.

In a minority of countries, constitutional provisions are regulated solely by statute. Others rely on a combination of statutory requirements and agreements at sectoral or undertaking level. Trade unions are the main vehicle for employees’ statutory rights in a number of countries and in others tend to be influential within works council-type bodies. The social partners generally support their national representative frameworks, but in some countries, employers and/or unions reportedly have little enthusiasm for implementing procedures. The patchy evidence available makes it difficult to reach a clear-cut assessment. In some countries there is definitely a lack of promotion which appears to have limited the directive’s impact in driving the diffusion of arrangements and setting clear standards for practice.