Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-03-Speech-2-283"
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"en.20030603.7.2-283"2
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". I can assure you that the Commission is fully aware of the importance and seriousness of the issues at stake in relation to the complaint concerning the presumed wrong application of Directive 77/187/EEC following the transfer of colleges of further education in England and Wales to the private sector in the 1990s.
Indeed, this has led to continuous correspondence with the Commission services since 1996. The honourable Member is probably aware of the fact that the Commission's legal analysis differs from that of the complainants. According to our information, the United Kingdom has now correctly transposed Directive 77/187/EEC into national legislation. Accordingly, disputes concerning incorrect application are, in principle, a matter for the national courts. Therefore the Commission services have stressed on several occasions over the years that the national courts constitute the appropriate legal framework for dealing with the issues raised in the case concerned.
It should be recalled in this respect that the complainants have indeed addressed the national courts but without success.
As far as the legally binding nature of collective agreements in the United Kingdom is concerned, I would like to point out that this is also a matter of interpretation of English law, often requiring a factual appreciation. The directive and, in particular Article 3(2), does not oblige a Member State to change the legal nature of collective agreements. Furthermore, even if, generally speaking, collective agreements are not legally binding in the United Kingdom, nothing prevents them from being legally binding if they are incorporated into an employment contract, thereby becoming part of the contractual terms.
Whether or not this is the case is often a complex issue requiring a factual appreciation. Contrary to the conclusion reached by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the complainants' case, a recent judgment concerned such a binding collective agreement applicable in the National Health Service. In its judgment, the European Court of Justice explicitly acknowledged that it is for the national courts to determine, if necessary, whether benefits arising from a collective agreement bind the transfer and thus also bind the transferee under Article 3(2).
Accordingly, a non-enforceable collective agreement before the transfer will continue to remain non-enforceable after the transfer."@en1
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