In July 2002, the Greek government issued a Presidential Decree on the safeguarding of employees’ rights in transfers of undertakings, in order to transpose the amended 1998 EU Directive on the issue.
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In July 2002, the Greek government issued a Presidential Decree on the safeguarding of employees’ rights in transfers of undertakings, in order to transpose the amended 1998 EU Directive on the issue.
On 4 July 2002, Presidential Decree (PD) 178/2002 was issued. It introduces measures regarding the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses or undertakings, in order to transpose EU Directive 98/50/EC of 29 June 1998 on this issue (TN0102401S). The 1998 Directive amended Directive 77/187/EEC, and the two Directives were subsequently consolidated in Directive 2001/23/EC. PD 178/2002 was published in the Greek Government Gazette on 12 July 2002, and came into effect on 17 July 2002 - ie the deadline for compliance with the 1998 Directive.
The basic aim of PD178/2002 is, as mentioned, to adapt Greek legislation to the provisions of the 1998 transfer of undertakings Directive (GR0209105N). In particular PD178/2002 seeks to:
clarify the legal concept of transfers, in the light of the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ);
define its scope, which encompasses public or private undertakings carrying out economic activities, whether or not they operate for gain.
clarify the concept of 'employee' in the light of ECJ case law;
clarify the circumstances in which the function and status of employee representatives are to be preserved. If the business, undertaking or part of business or undertaking preserves its autonomy, the status and function of its employee representatives are preserved, as provided for in current legislation. In the event that the business or undertaking fails to preserve its autonomy, the representatives of its employees or the employees of the companies being transferred are retained until new employee representatives are elected. If the term of office of the employee representatives affected by the transfer expires as a result of the transfer, the representatives continue to be protected in accordance with the relevant provisions for as long they would have been protected had the transfer not occurred;
provide for employee information and consultation requirements, irrespective of whether the decision leading to the transfer is taken by the employer or by an undertaking controlling the employer. Failure of the undertaking controlling the employer to provide information does not constitute a valid reason for not observing the obligations regarding information and consultation of employees; and
clarify the circumstances in which employees must be informed in cases where there are no employee representatives.
Nadácia Eurofound navrhuje citovať túto publikáciu takto.
Eurofound (2002), Transfer of undertakings Directive transposed, article.
