Is there a risk of losing existing participation rights? Can the SE be misused to avoid participation rights?
The Directive tries to ensure that the establishment of an SE is not misused to evade participation or other involvement rights. The Directive states that the member states shall take appropriate measures with a view to preventing the misuse of the European Company for depriving employees of rights to employee involvement or withholding such rights. Most member states have included wording along these lines in their national SE law. Moreover, an SE set up by transformation must ensure at least the same level of all elements of employee involvement as before (Art. 4 IV Dir). In the other cases, there are three scenarios where participation rights might be lost or reduced: 1. If the SNB decides not to open or to terminate negotiations. 2. If, in the agreement, the SNB agrees not to introduce or to reduce existing participation rights, 3. If, in the case of application of the standard rules, the SNB decides not to include, or to reduce, existing participation rights. However, the Directiv
