Eight years after its publication, and following a European Commission (EC) action against Italy for non-fulfilment of its European Union (EU) obligations, the European Works Council Directive has finally been implemented in Italy. The Directive has now been incorporated into national statute by way of Legislative Decree 74 of 2 April, 2002, (74/2002) which took effect on 9 May of that year.
In 1996 a number of trade union associations took the initiative to implement the Directive themselves through an agreement involving some of the country’s leading trade union representatives, both of employers and employees. This agreement, however, is not a statute but a private contract, binding only the contracting parties and so only the associations of employers, on the one hand, and trade union associations of employees, on the other.
