Common Position (EC) No 33/2001 of 23 July 2001 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community
Date: 2001-07-23
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: European Community, labour law, worker consultation, worker information

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 33/2001

adopted by the Council on 23 July 2001

with a view to adopting Directive 2001/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of ...
establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European
Community

(2001/C 307/03)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(5)

Having completed this second stage of consultation,
management and labour have not informed the Com-
mission of their wish to initiate the process potentially
leading to the conclusion of an agreement.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 137(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Having regard to the opinion of
Regions (3),

the Committee of

the

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 251 of the Treaty (4),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Pursuant to Article 136 of the Treaty, a particular
objective of the Community and the Member States is to
promote social dialogue between management and
labour.

Point 17 of the Community Charter of Fundamental
Social Rights of Workers provides, inter alia, that infor-
mation, consultation and participation for workers must
be developed along appropriate lines, taking account of
the practices in force in different Member States.

The Commission consulted management and labour at
Community level on the possible direction of Com-
munity action on the information and consultation of
employees in undertakings within the Community.

Following this consultation, the Commission considered
that Community action was advisable and again consult-
ed management and labour on the contents of the
planned proposal; management and labour have present-
ed their opinions to the Commission.

(1) OJ C 2, 5.1.1999, p. 3.
(2) OJ C 258, 10.9.1999, p. 24.
(3) OJ C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 58.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 14 April 1999 (OJ C 219,
30.7.1999, p. 223), confirmed on 16 September 1999 (OJ C 54,
25.2.2000, p. 55), Council Common Position of 23 July 2001
and Decision of the European Parliament of ... (not yet published
in the Official Journal).

(6)

(7)

(8)

legal

frameworks at national and
The existence of
Community level intended to ensure that employees are
involved in the affairs of the undertaking employing
them and in decisions which affect them has not always
prevented serious decisions affecting employees from
being taken and made public without adequate pro-
cedures having been implemented beforehand to inform
and consult them.

There is a need to strengthen dialogue and promote
mutual trust within undertakings in order to improve
risk anticipation, make work organisation more flexible
and facilitate employee access to training within the
security, make
undertaking while maintaining
employees
increase
aware of
employees’ availability to undertake measures and activi-
ties to increase their employability, promote employee
involvement in the operation and future of the undertak-
ing and increase its competitiveness.

adaptation needs,

There is a need, in particular, to promote and enhance
information and consultation on the situation and likely
development of employment within the undertaking
and, where the employer’s evaluation suggests that
employment within the undertaking may be under
threat, the possible anticipatory measures envisaged, in
particular in terms of employee training and skill
development, with a view to offsetting the negative
developments or their consequences and increasing the
employability and adaptability of the employees likely
to be affected.

(9)

Timely information and consultation is a prerequisite
for the success of the restructuring and adaptation
of undertakings to the new conditions created by
globalisation of the economy, particularly through the
development of new forms of organisation of work.

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(10) The Community has drawn up and implemented an
employment strategy based on the concepts of ‘antici-
pation’, ‘prevention’ and ‘employability’, which are to be
incorporated as key elements into all public policies
likely to benefit employment, including the policies of
individual undertakings, by strengthening the social
dialogue with a view to promoting change compatible
with preserving the priority objective of employment.

(11)

Further development of the internal market must be
properly balanced, maintaining the essential values on
which our societies are based and ensuring that all
citizens benefit from economic development.

(12)

Entry into the third stage of economic and monetary
union has extended and accelerated the competitive
pressures at European level. This means that more
supportive measures are needed at national level.

the Community may adopt measures in accordance with
the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the
In accordance with the principle of pro-
Treaty.
portionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does
not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve
these objectives.

(18) The purpose of this general framework is to establish
minimum requirements applicable throughout the Com-
munity while not preventing Member States from laying
down provisions more favourable to employees.

(19) The purpose of this general framework is also to avoid
any administrative, financial or legal constraints which
would hinder the creation and development of small
and medium-sized undertakings. To this end, the scope
of this Directive should be restricted, according to the
choice made by Member States, to undertakings with at
least 50 employees or establishments employing at least
20 employees.

(13) The existing legal frameworks for employee information
and consultation at Community and national level tend
to adopt an excessively a posteriori approach to the
process of change, neglect the economic aspects of
decisions taken and do not contribute either to genuine
anticipation of employment developments within the
undertaking or to risk prevention.

(20) However, on a transitional basis Member States in which
there is no established statutory system of information
and consultation of employees or employee represen-
tation should have the possibility of further restricting
the scope of the Directive as regards the numbers of
employees.

(14) All of these political, economic, social and legal develop-
ments call for changes to the existing legal framework
providing for
instruments
enabling the right to be informed and consulted to be
exercised.

the legal and practical

(15) This Directive is without prejudice to national systems
regarding the exercise of this right in practice where
those entitled to exercise it are required to indicate their
wishes collectively.

(16) This Directive is without prejudice to those systems
which provide for the direct involvement of employees,
as long as they are always free to exercise the right to be
informed and consulted through their representatives.

(17)

Since the objectives of the proposed action, as outlined
above, cannot be adequately achieved by the Member
States, in that the object is to establish a framework for
employee information and consultation appropriate for
the new European context described above, and can
therefore,
the
proposed action, be better achieved at Community level,

the scale and impact of

in view of

(21) A Community framework for informing and consulting
employees should keep to a minimum the burden
on undertakings or establishments while ensuring the
effective exercise of the rights granted.

(22) The objective of this Directive is to be achieved through
the establishment of a general framework comprising the
principles, definitions and arrangements for information
and consultation, which it will be for the Member States
to their own national
to comply with and adapt
situation, ensuring, where appropriate, that management
and labour have a leading role by allowing them
to define freely, by agreement, the arrangements for
informing and consulting employees which they con-
sider to be best suited to their needs and wishes.

(23) Care should be taken to avoid affecting some specific
rules in the field of employee information and consul-
tation existing in some national
laws, addressed to
undertakings or establishments which pursue political,
professional, organisational, religious, charitable, edu-
cational, scientific or artistic aims, as well as aims
involving information and the expression of opinions.

(24) Undertakings and establishments should be protected
against disclosure of certain particularly sensitive infor-
mation.

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(25) The employer should be allowed not to inform and
consult where this would seriously damage the undertak-
ing or the establishment or where he has to comply
immediately with an order issued to him by a regulatory
or supervisory body.

3. When defining or implementing practical arrangements
for information and consultation,
the employer and the
employees’ representatives shall work in a spirit of cooperation
and with due regard for their reciprocal rights and obligations,
taking into account the interests both of the undertaking or
establishment and of the employees.

(26)

Information and consultation imply both rights and
obligations for management and labour at undertaking
or establishment level.

(27) This Directive should not affect the provisions, where
these are more specific, of Council Directive 98/59/EC
of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to collective redundancies (1) and
of Council Directive 2001/23/EC of 12 March 2001 on
the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the
event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of
undertakings or businesses (2).

(28) Other rights of information and consultation, including
those arising from Council Directive 94/45/EC of
22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European
Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale
undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertak-
ings for the purposes of
informing and consulting
employees (3), should not be affected by this Directive.

(29)

Implementation of this Directive should not be sufficient
grounds for a reduction in the general level of protection
of workers in the areas to which it applies,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Object and principles

1.
The purpose of this Directive is to establish a general
framework setting out minimum requirements for the right to
information and consultation of employees in undertakings or
establishments within the Community.

2.
The practical arrangements for information and consul-
tation shall be defined and implemented in accordance with
national law and industrial relations practices in individual
Member States in such a way as to ensure their effectiveness.

(1) OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 16.
(2) OJ L 82, 22.3.2001, p. 16.
(3) OJ L 254, 30.9.1994, p. 64. Directive as amended by Direc-

tive 97/74/EC (OJ L 10, 16.1.1998, p. 22).

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

‘undertaking’ means a public or private undertaking
carrying out an economic activity, whether or not
operating for gain, which is located within the territory
of the Member States;

‘establishment’ means a unit of business defined in
accordance with national law and practice, and located
within the territory of a Member State, where an econ-
omic activity is carried out on an ongoing basis with
human and material resources;

‘employer’ means the natural or legal person party to
employment contracts or employment relationships with
employees, in accordance with national law and practice;

‘employee’ means any person who, in the Member State
concerned, is protected as an employee under national
employment law and in accordance with national prac-
tice;

‘employees’ representatives’ means the employees’ rep-
resentatives provided for by national laws and/or prac-
tices;

‘information’ means transmission by the employer to the
employees’ representatives of data in order to enable
them to acquaint themselves with the subject-matter and
to examine it;

‘consultation’ means the exchange of views and establish-
ment of dialogue between the employees’ representatives
and the employer.

Article 3

Scope

This Directive shall apply, according to the choice made

1.
by Member States, to:

(a)

(b)

undertakings employing at least 50 employees in any one
Member State, or

establishments employing at least 20 employees in any
one Member State.

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Member States shall determine the method for calculating the
thresholds of employees employed.

2.
In conformity with the principles and objectives of this
Directive, Member States may lay down particular provisions
applicable to undertakings or establishments which pursue
directly and essentially political, professional organisational,
religious, charitable, educational, scientific or artistic aims, as
well as aims involving information and the expression of
opinions, on condition that, at the date of entry into force of
this Directive, provisions of that nature already exist in national
legislation.

3. Member States may derogate from this Directive through
particular provisions applicable to the crews of vessels plying
the high seas.

(b)

(c)

(d)

at the relevant level of management and representation,
depending on the subject under discussion;

on the basis of relevant information to be supplied by the
employer and of the opinion which the employees’
representatives are entitled to formulate;

in such a way as to enable employees’ representatives to
meet the employer and obtain a response, and the reasons
for that response, to any opinion they might formulate;

(e) with a view to reaching an agreement on decisions within
the employer’s powers referred to in

the scope of
paragraph 2(c).

Article 5

Article 4

Information and consultation deriving from an agreement

Practical arrangements for information and consultation

1.
In accordance with the principles set out in Article 1 and
without prejudice to any provisions and/or practices in force
more favourable to employees,
the Member States shall
determine the practical arrangements for exercising the right
to information and consultation at the appropriate level in
accordance with this Article.

2.

Information and consultation shall cover:

(a)

(b)

(c)

information on the recent and probable development of
the undertaking’s or the establishment’s activities and
economic situation;

information and consultation on the situation, structure
and probable development of employment within the
undertaking or establishment and on any anticipatory
measures envisaged, in particular where there is a threat
to employment;

information and consultation on decisions likely to
lead to substantial changes in work organisation or in
contractual relations,
including those covered by the
Community provisions referred to in Article 9(1).

3.
Information shall be given at such time, in such fashion
and with such content as is appropriate to enable, in particular,
employees’ representatives to conduct an adequate study and,
where necessary, prepare for consultation.

4.

Consultation shall take place:

(a) while ensuring that the timing, method and content

thereof are appropriate;

Member States may entrust management and labour at the
appropriate level, including at undertaking or establishment
level, with defining freely and at any time through negotiated
agreement
the practical arrangements for informing and
consulting employees. These agreements, and agreements
existing on the date laid down in Article 11, as well as any
subsequent renewals of such agreements, may establish, while
respecting the principles set out in Article 1 and subject to
conditions and limitations laid down by the Member States,
provisions which are different
from those referred to in
Article 4.

Article 6

Confidential information

1. Member States shall provide that, within the conditions
and limits laid down by national legislation, the employees’
representatives, and any experts who assist them, are not
authorised to reveal to employees or to third parties, any
information which, in the legitimate interest of the undertaking
or establishment, has expressly been provided to them in
confidence. This obligation shall continue to apply, wherever
the said representatives or experts are, even after expiry of
their terms of office. However, a Member State may authorise
the employees’ representatives and anyone assisting them to
pass on confidential information to employees and to third
parties bound by an obligation of confidentiality.

2. Member States shall provide, in specific cases and within
the conditions and limits laid down by national legislation,
that the employer is not obliged to communicate information
or undertake consultation when the nature of that information
or consultation is such that, according to objective criteria, it
would seriously harm the functioning of the undertaking or
establishment or would be prejudicial to it.

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3. Without prejudice to existing national procedures, Mem-
ber States shall provide for administrative or judicial review
procedures when the employer requires confidentiality or does
not provide the information in accordance with paragraphs 1
and 2. They may also provide for procedures intended to
safeguard the confidentiality of the information in question.

Article 7

Protection of employees’ representatives

Member States shall ensure that employees’ representatives,
when carrying out their functions, enjoy adequate protection
and guarantees to enable them to perform properly the duties
which have been assigned to them.

Article 8

Protection of rights

1. Member States shall provide for appropriate measures in
the event of non-compliance with this Directive by the
employer or the employees’ representatives. In particular, they
shall ensure that adequate administrative or judicial procedures
are available to enable the obligations deriving from this
Directive to be enforced.

2. Member States shall provide for adequate penalties to be
applicable in the event of infringement of this Directive by the
employer or the employees’ representatives. These penalties
must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Article 9

Link between this Directive and other Community and
national provisions

1.
This Directive shall be without prejudice to the specific
information and consultation procedures set out in Article 2
of Directive 98/59/EC and Article 7 of Directive 2001/23/EC.

2.
This Directive shall be without prejudice to provisions
adopted in accordance with Directives 94/45/EC and
97/74/EC.

3.
This Directive shall be without prejudice to other rights
to information, consultation and participation under national
law.

4.
Implementation of this Directive shall not be sufficient
grounds for any regression in relation to the situation which
already prevails in each Member State and in relation to the
general level of protection of workers in the areas to which it
applies.

Article 10

Transitional provisions

Notwithstanding Article 3, a Member State in which there is,
at the date of entry into force of this Directive, no general,
permanent and statutory system of information and consul-
tation of employees, nor a general, permanent and statutory
system of employee representation at the workplace allowing
employees to be represented for that purpose, may limit the
the national provisions implementing this
application of
Directive to:

(a)

undertakings employing at least 150 employees or estab-
lishments employing at least 100 employees until ... (*),
and

(b) undertakings employing at least 100 employees or estab-
lishments employing at least 50 employees during the
two years following the date in point (a).

Article 11

Transposition

1. Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Direc-
tive not later than ... (**) or shall ensure that management and
labour introduce by that date the required provisions by way
of agreement, the Member States being obliged to take all
necessary steps enabling them to guarantee the results imposed
by this Directive at all times. They shall forthwith inform the
Commission thereof.

2. Where Member States adopt these measures, they shall
contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied
by such reference on the occasion of their official publication.
The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by
the Member States.

Article 12

Review by the Commission

Not later than ... (*), the Commission shall, in consultation
with the Member States and the social partners at Community
level, review the application of this Directive with a view to
proposing any necessary amendments.

(*) Five years after the date of entry into force of this Directive.
(**) Three years after the date of entry into force of this Directive.

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Article 13

Entry into force

Article 14

Addresses

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at ...

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication
in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

The Commission’s proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the Community was
submitted to the Council on 17 November 1998. It was based on Article 137(2) of the Treaty.

The European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions
delivered their opinions on 14 April 1999, 7 July 1999, and 13 and 14 December 2000 respectively.

The Commission submitted an amended proposal on 23 May 2001.

The Council adopted a Common Position on 23 July 2001, in accordance with the procedure laid
down in Article 251 of the Treaty.

II.

AIM OF THE PROPOSAL

The purpose of the Commission proposal is to lay down a general framework setting minimum
requirements for the right of employees to be informed and consulted, applicable at national level
to undertakings in the Member States. Its aim is also to supplement the existing Directives on
collective redundancies and transfers of undertakings, as well as the Directive on a European Works
Council applying to undertakings situated in two or more Member States.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

1.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

According to Article 136 of the Treaty, the Community and the Member States ‘shall have as
their objectives (...) improved living and working conditions (...), dialogue between management
and labour (...)’, etc. To this end Article 137(2) of the Treaty states that the Council ‘may adopt,
by means of directives, minimum requirements for gradual implementation, having regard to
the conditions and technical rules obtaining in each of the Member States’.

The Council Common Position is in accordance with the objectives of Article 137(2) of the
Treaty in the area covered, since it is designed to introduce minimum requirements for the
information and consultation of employees in undertakings or establishments in the European
Union. Furthermore, the Common Position largely respects the objectives put forward by the
Commission and supported by Parliament.

The Directive is to apply to undertakings employing at least 50 employees or to establishments
employing at least 20 employees within a Member State, in accordance with the choice made
by the Member State.

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However, Member States in which there is currently no general, permanent and statutory
system of information and consultation of employees, nor of employee representation at the
workplace, may apply an additional transitional period. They may, during the first five years
after the entry into force of the Directive, limit the application of the national provisions
implementing the Directive to undertakings employing at
least 150 employees or to
establishments employing at least 100 employees and, for a further two years, to undertakings
employing at least 100 employees or establishments employing at least 50 employees. The
reason for this derogation being included in the text of the Directive was the need to provide
an adequate timetable for small and medium-sized undertakings to adjust to the Directive’s
requirements where such undertakings at present have no formal information and consultation
obligations at all.

Member States should define and implement the practical arrangements for information and
consultation at the appropriate level, in accordance with national law and industrial relations
practices.

This includes entrusting management and labour at the appropriate national level with defining
freely and at any time through negotiated agreement the practical arrangements for informing
and consulting employees. These agreements may establish provisions which are different from
those referred to in Article 4 of the Directive.

The key element is the right of the employees to be informed on the recent and probable
development of central aspects of the undertaking’s activities and economic and employment
situation, and to be consulted on these as well as on anticipatory measures regarding the
employment situation, and on decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work
organisation or in contractual relations. Consultation includes an exchange of views and a
dialogue between the employer and the representatives of the employees, enabling them to
express their opinions to the employer and to obtain a reasoned response, with a view to
reaching agreement on decisions to be taken by the employer.

The Directive contains provisions enabling the employer to provide certain information in
confidence to the employees’ representatives, where this is in the legitimate interest of the
employer. It also authorises the employer not to communicate information or undertake
consultation where this would seriously harm the functioning of
the undertaking or
establishment.

The Directive requires effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties to be applicable in the
event of infringement of the Directive by the employer or the employees’ representatives.

2.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S AMENDMENTS ON FIRST READING

2.1. European Parliament amendments adopted by the Council

2.1.1. The following 10 amendments were taken up in their entirety, both in the
Commission’s amended proposal and in the Council’s Common Position, either
word for word, or at least in spirit and substance: 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13 (introductory
sentence) 16, 25 and 32.

2.1.2. The following 24 amendments were neither taken up in the Commission’s
in the Council’s Common

amended proposal nor, for the following reasons,
Position:

— amendment 1: this was regarded as consistent with recitals 7 and 8, but at the

same time unnecessarily detailed,

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— amendments 4 and 15: the recital and the article on ‘Tendenzschutz’ were
considered necessary, in line with the ‘European Works Council Directive’,

— amendment 37: this was considered too inflexible in respect of the employer’s
right to withhold particularly sensitive information, in line with the Council’s
position on amendment 27; furthermore, recitals should not contain wording
which has the nature of a binding provision,

— amendment 5 and 31: these were considered unnecessary, as they were already

covered by the provisions of Article 9(3),

— amendment 8: although this was considered to be consistent with the spirit of
Article 1(3), it was also considered to put demands on the Member States
which these would not be able to meet,

— amendment 11: this was regarded as being too resctrictive for matters which
should be left to national law and practice, including the social partners,

— amendment 41:

this was considered too detailed and unnecessary, and

incompatible with the situation in some Member States,

— amendment 13 (first and third indents): this was considered unnecessarily
detailed, since consultation could, in any case, only take place on the basis of
information given,

— amendment 17: this was regarded as potentially burdensome for small and
medium-sized enterprises, and as not entirely appropriate as a legal provision,

— amendment 43: although this was considered to be consistent with the spirit
of Article 5, it was regarded as an unnecessary restriction of the freedom of
negotiation of the social partners,

— amendment 20: this was regarded as too restrictive for the freedom of the

social partners to conclude agreements,

— amendment 21: this was considered to be too detailed and to cover areas which

were not suitable for consultation,

— amendments 22 and 23: these were considered to be in line with the spirit of

the Directive, but at the same time unnecessarily detailed,

— amendment 24: this was considered too far-reaching in the light of national
legislation in most Member States, which did not give the employees’
representatives such a right to a suspensive veto,

— amendment 26: this was regarded as unnecessary in the light of Article 6(1)
which already mentions ‘any experts who assist’ the employees’ representa-
tives, and also too vague in respect of the rights and role of such experts,

— amendment 27: the employer’s right not to communicate information and
undertake consultation when this would seriously harm the undertaking was
considered necessary,

— amendment 28: this was considered too detailed and alien to the situation

existing in many Member States,

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— amendment 29: this was considered to present problems of legal enforcement,
given that the intention of the employer would be very difficult to establish;
in fact the Council rejected the whole paragraph to which the amendment
was related,

— amendment 33: this amendment, which aimed to extend the scope of the
Directive to the whole of the public sector, was not considered appropriate,
given that publicly-owned undertakings would in any event be covered; the
Directive was not, however, adapted to the nature, activities, and types of
decisions taken by other public sector bodies,

— amendment 34: this was considered to interfere unduly with the legislative
process in the Member States, which in any case normally includes the
consultation of the social partners,

— amendment 35: this was considered unnecessary because it singled out one
particular aspect of the Directive, which is likely to be included in the review
in any case.

3.

THE COMMON POSITION IN RELATION TO THE COMMISSION’S AMENDED PROPOSAL

3.1. Article 3(3), which allows Member States to derogate from the Directive in respect of the
crews of vessels plying the high seas, was not included in the Commission’s amended
proposal, but was considered necessary by the Council because of the practical difficulties
of consulting seafarers absent on lengthy voyages, and was subsequently accepted by the
Commission.

3.2. The Commission’s amended proposal (and its initial proposal) contained a provision
(Article 8(3)) on specific sanctions in case of serious breach by the employer of his/her
information and consultation obligations. However, although the Council recognised the
need for sanctions in such a case, it considered that Article 8(2) provided a sufficient basis
for introducing effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties into national legislation.
The Council could therefore not accept paragraph 3, the following specific reasons also
being mentioned by several Member States:

— the provision included the notion of the ‘non-production of legal effects’ of certain

decisions by the employer, which was alien to most national legal systems,

— the provision could lead to legal uncertainty because of lengthy judicial procedures,
with serious financial consequences for the undertaking and its ability to safeguard
its present level of employment, and for its relations with its business partners, and

— the provision could lead to legal uncertainty in respect of

information and
consultation in situations covered by the existing Directives on collective redundanci-
es and transfers of undertakings.

3.3. Article 10, which provides for transitional periods in respect of the thresholds laid down
in Article 3 for the application of the Directive, was not included in the Commission’s
amended proposal; it was proposed by the Commission at the meeting of the Council on
11 June 2001, and was accepted by the Council.

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IV. CONCLUSION

The Council considers that, as a whole, the Common Position is well in line with the objectives of
the amended Commission proposal. It also considers that it has basically taken account of the main
objectives pursued by the European Parliament in its proposed amendments.