S.I. No. 386/1999 - European Communities (Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act, 1996) (Amendment) Regulations, 1999

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 97/74/EC of 15 December 1997⁽¹⁾ hereby order as follows:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act, 1996) (Amendment) Regulations, 1999.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on 15 December, 1999.

2. Section 3 (1) of the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act, 1996 is hereby amended by the deletion of “excluding the United Kingdom” from paragraph (a) of the definition of “Community”.

3. Section 6 of the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act, 1996 is hereby amended—

(a) by the insertion after subsection (1) of the following subsection:

“(1A) Subject to subsections (3), (4) and (5), the obligations under this Act shall also not apply to Community-scale undertakings or Community-scale groups of undertakings in the United Kingdom which come within the scope of this Act by virtue of the application of Directive 97/74/EC of 15 December, 1997 of the Council of the European Union and in which there was in force within the same Community-scale undertaking or Community scale group of undertakings on 15 December, 1999 an agreement covering the entire workforce providing for the transnational information and consultation of employees, and while the agreement remains in force.”; and

(b) in subsections (2), (3), (6) and (7), by the substitution of “subsection (1) or (1A)” for “subsection (1)”.

4. Section 10(4)(a) of the Transnational Information and Consultation of Employees Act; 1996 is hereby amended by the substitution of “18 members” for “17 members”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The effect of these Regulations is to transpose into Irish law Directive 97/74/EC of 15 December, 1997 extending to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Directive 94/45/EC on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings or Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees.

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L010, 16.1.98, p.22.