The terms of the directive do not specify whether the right to information and consultation requires specific intervention by the workers’ representatives or whether it is automatic. In many Member States, the right to information and consultation is a right “on demand”: the intended recipients of this right must claim its formal application from the employer, sometimes even when the thresholds are complied with.

There are, therefore, two distinctive groups of countries. The first consists of the countries in which the right to information and consultation is automatic, as in Sweden. The second group consists of the countries where there is a specified quota for access to the right to information and consultation (see chapter on thresholds) such as Germany, Belgium, France and Spain, or a requirement for a specific request to be made to the employer either by workers’ representatives or by a group of employees, as in the United Kingdom and Ireland