The Draft Fifth Company Law Directive (1972–1988) is a European Union proposal for a Directive, primarily aimed to implement a right of employees to vote for the boards of directors in large companies. The Directive went through 3 major revisions, but was never agreed to come into law by enough member states.
Contents
1972 revision
The first Draft Fifth Company Law Directive was issued in 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.
1983 Revision
In 1983, in an attempt to secure new agreement a further revision was released. 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.
1988 revision
The next attempt at revising the Directive allowed for a third to a half representation.