The European legislator says little on the resources that should be granted to employees’ representatives in order to exercise their mandate. The very vague wording of Article 7 of the Directive leaves ample room for manoeuvre by Member States in transposing the directive into domestic law.

In general, the Member States give special protection to employees’ representatives, whether they are elected or unionised, considering them as protected employees. This special protection requires an exceptional procedure implying the information to the representative bodies within the undertaking and formal intervention by a public body such as the inspectorate of labour. However, domestic implementation measures are very heterogeneous and could be in general improved