Establishing European works councils

The European Court of Justice has ruled on which body has responsibility for the establishment of the EWC.

The facts

The German works council of the Kuhne & Nagel company, whose head office is in Swizerland, outside the EU, requested information from their employer to assist in the establishment of an EWC.

The ruling

The ECJ held that the largest employer within the EU assumes the role and responsibilities of the Central Management and must provide information necessary to the establishment of the EWC. Where it does not have information it must call on the resources of any other companies of the same group located in other EU states. The information that it is obliged to supply includes the average total number of employees and their distribution across the member states; the establishments and the structure of the undertakings and names and addresses of employee representatives.

Gesamtbetriebsrat der Kuhne & Nagel v Huhne & Nagel C-440/00