For the past two decades, Tupe has proved to be a fertile source of litigation. The European Commission has long been lobbied to review the Acquired Rights Directive (ARD), the European legislation which Tupe enacts in the UK. As a result, the Council of Ministers adopted a directive in 1998 which proposed amendments to the ARD.
Member states have had three years to enact new domestic legislative provisions to reflect the directive. The UK Government had until July last year to prepare new regulations, which it failed to do, although it did issue a consultation paper and the period for responses ended in December.
