A European Works Council (EWC) is an information and consultation body that represents European workers on transnational issues in multinational companies with more than 1,000 employees with operations in at least two EU or EEA countries. EWCs comprise employees’ representatives from each country that is a member of either or both of the European Union and the EEA in which a business has employees. They operate separately from national information and consultation bodies.
On 28 May 2025, the Council and the European Parliament published a Provisional Agreement to amend the existing Directive on the European Works Council (EWC), Directive 2009/38/EC (the Directive). The decision to amend the Directive was originally proposed by the Commission in January 2024 with the aim of addressing shortcomings by introducing measures to make the Directive clearer and more effective.
Some of the key changes agreed under the Provisional Agreement are outlined below.
- Exempted organisations: as it stands, the Directive provides that undertakings with a transnational information and consultation agreement which concluded before 23 September 1996 (i.e. prior to the enforcement of the Directive or Article 13 agreements) are exempt from the Directive. As a result, employees in these exempted undertakings are unable to request an establishment of an EWC. Under the Provisional Agreement, this exemption will no longer apply. Any organisations that are exempt for this reason exclusively will fall under the scope of the revised Directive and will need to implement an EWC if requested to do so. However, if employees are satisfied with the existing agreement, such requests are unlikely to arise.
- Transnational matters: the Provisional Agreement highlights that there has been legal uncertainty regarding the concept of transnational matters in the past, which has led to differences in interpretation and disputes. To address these issues, the revised Directive will broaden the scope of transnational matters to include matters that affect workers of undertakings in a substantial way, even if those workers are not directly affected by those matters or the impact is unintended.
- Gender representation: the agreement notes that the Directive currently fails to provide for balanced gender representation of employees when determining the composition of EWCs, as women remain underrepresented in most EWCs. To address this, the agreement states it will be necessary to lay down more effective and specific objectives regarding gender representation when agreements between management and employee representatives are negotiated. The Agreement outlines a target of 40% of seats being allotted to members of each gender on the EWC, the selected committee and special negotiating body. While the failure to meet this target will not prevent the establishment of these bodies, these bodies will be required to explain in writing the reasons for not meeting this target.
- Confidentiality: under the Directive, when sensitive information is shared with EWCs, management may provide that such information is shared in confidence and should not be disclosed further. To prevent the excessive use of such confidentiality restrictions, it has been agreed that this should only occur in the legitimate interest of the undertaking concerned and where management provides a reasonable justification. Confidentiality should be upheld only for as long as the reasons for it persist.
- Access to justice: the Provisional Agreement acknowledges difficulties encountered by individuals seeking to bring legal actions to enforce their rights. The revised Directive will seek to strengthen provisions on access to judicial proceedings and (where relevant) administrative proceedings.
- Penalties: the Provisional Agreement notes that sanctions under the Directive for non-compliance with transnational information and consultation requirements are not currently effective. To address this, it provides that dissuasive penalties are required including financial penalties, taking into account the gravity, duration, consequences and the intentional or negligent nature of the offence.
What’s next?
The European Parliament will need to formally adopt the changes agreed in the Provisional Agreement. Following this, Member States will have two years to transpose changes to the Directive into national law, with the new rules applying one year thereafter.
In the meantime, employers who have agreements in place, as well as previously exempted undertakings, are advised to carefully consider the impact of these changes on their organisation.
We will consider the provisions of the Provisional Agreement in more detail in our second article to follow.
For further information in relation to this topic, please contact Aisling Muldowney, Partner, Triona Sugrue, Senior Knowledge Consultant, Sheila Spokes, Associate or any member of the ALG Employment Law team.
Date published: 7 July 2025
