Industrial Relations in Europe 2012 - European Commission - Europa

Commission must consult the social partners twice on each legislative proposal in the fields of
social policy: first on the possible direction of EU action, and in a second stage on the content of the
Commission's proposal. In respond to either a first- or second-stage consultation, the social partners
have the right to inform the Commission that they wish to start formal negotiations on the given
subject. If they decide to do that, the social partners have nine months to reach agreement, during
which the Commission suspends its work on the proposal. The nine month period can be extended
if needed and agreed with the Commission.
The social partners can negotiate binding agreements at EU level either in response to a
Commission consultation or on their own initiative. According to Article 155 TFEU, agreements
reached by the social partners can be implemented in two ways. First, agreements can be adopted
"in accordance with procedures and practices specific to management and labour and the Member
States", which means that the social partners are responsible for implementing agreements at
national level and in a way stipulated by national legislation or practice (autonomous agreements).
This procedure can be used for autonomous agreements between the social partners on any subject.
Second, on matters falling under Article 153 TFEU, the social partners can jointly request the
Commission to submit their agreement to the Council which can adopt it by decision, making it
legally binding in the EU. The European Parliament will be informed if this legislative procedure is
used. If the social partners' agreement is adopted as a legislative act, the Member States are obliged
to implement its provisions as in the case of other Directives and the Commission monitors the
transposition process to the national legal systems. Article 153 of the Treaty also allows the
Member States to entrust national social partners with the implementation of a Directive's
provisions.
In addition to European social dialogue at cross-industry and sectoral level, dialogue between the
representatives of management and labour also takes place at the level of transnational companies,
including through European works councils. Section 8.2.5 in chapter 8 provides basic information
on these forms of social dialogue, while further details on transnational company agreements,
including the 2012 Commission staff working document entitled "Transnational company
agreements: realising the potential of social dialogue" are available online
(http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=707&langId=en&intPageId=214).
The continued attractiveness of European social dialogue for management and labour can be seen in
the continuing interest in creating new sectoral social dialogue committees. One sector, the food
and drink industry, launched its committee – the 41 st European sectoral social dialogue committee –
in early 2012. The social partners in the sports and active leisure sector are advancing towards the
creation of a social dialogue committee, while organisations in the graphical and ports sectors are
also working on setting up social dialogue committees. As a result the total number of social
dialogue committees is expected to reach 44 in the near future (box 7.2).
Box 7.2 New sectoral social dialogue committees
In 2012, a new sectoral social dialogue committee was established for the food and drink industry,
bringing the total to 41 sectoral social dialogue committees. The food and drinks industry had been
the last industrial sector that was not covered by a European social dialogue committee. The first
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