At the Employment and Social Policy Council meeting on 11th June 2001 agreement was finally reached on the EU draft directive for informing and consulting employees. The draft must now be given a Second Reading by the European Parliament, which could propose further amendments (which would then be subject to conciliation). Final adoption is expected towards the end of the year, or early in 2002, and the DTI will then consult on implementation in the UK. The draft directive will be in addition to existing EU directives, already in force here, concerning consultations about collective redundancies, business transfers, and European Works Councils.
The UK will have three years from final adoption to implement the directive, i.e. until late 2004/early 2005. The compromise reached allows the UK to apply the directive initially only to undertakings with 150 or more employees. Undertakings with 100 or more employees will be covered two years later and ones with 50 or more employees two
