The Draft Fifth Company Law Directive (1972–2001) was a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

proposed directive for a right of co-determination in large companies, i.e. for employees to vote for

boards of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

. The draft went through several major revisions, but was never agreed by enough member states and was formally withdrawn in 2001.

History

1972 revision

The first Draft Fifth Company Law Directive was adopted by the Mansholt Commission under Commissioner Haferkamp ( SPD) on 27 September 1972 proposed that companies must have two-tiered boards of directors and that companies of over 500 workers should appoint one third of members to a supervisory board. This compulsory two-tiered structure, modelled after German companies, and the requirement of employee participation in management organ were criticised, in particular by countries having no tradition of dual boards or co-determination.

1983 revision

On 28 July 1983 a further revision was adopted by the

Thorn Commission The Thorn Commission was the European Commission that held office from 6 January 1981 until 5 January 1985. Its President of the European Commission, President was Gaston Thorn. Work It was the successor to the Jenkins Commission (EU), Jenki ...

under Commissioner Narjes ( CDU) in an attempt to secure new agreement. The requirement of two tier board was abandoned and the threshold was raised to 1000 workers before codetermination would be required. It envisaged that either board representation would be available for employees on a two or one tier board, or the option of another employee representative body that would receive a copy of all board materials.

1990 and 1991 revisions

On 13 December 1990 and 20 November 1991 the next attempts at revising the Directive were adopted by the second college of the

Delors Commission The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the eighth President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms (though the last one lasted for around a year). The first term lasted ...

under Commissioner Bangemann ( FDP) allowed for a third to a half representation.COM/90/629/FINAL - SYN 3, OJ C 7, 11.1.1991, p. 4–6 (ES, DA, DE, EL, EN, FR, IT, NL, PT)

2001 withdrawal

On 11 December 2001 the

Prodi Commission The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. History The commission took office on 16 September 1999 following the scandal and subs ...

withdrew the proposal as "no longer topical".

Notes

References

* {{citation, title= Employee Participation and Company Structure in the European Community , author=EC Commission , authorlink=Commission of the European Communities , date= 1996-08-01 , work= (Supp 8/75 1975) Bulletin of the European Communities 15 , url= https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3e2a7ac5-e872-4915-9ef5-27778ade8c0b , access-date=2021-03-28

External links

Procedure 1972/0003/SYN
on

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Procedure 1972/0003(COD)
on ŒIL Draft European Union laws