ABSTRACT
The Commission justifi ed the adoption of the Directive in terms of the information and consultation rights that it granted to employee representatives. It was argued that these rights would ensure that the affairs of MNCs became more transparent for employees and would prevent managers of MNCs circumventing nationally defi ned information and consultation rights (Hall 1992). The intention was to open up an institutional space for transnational employee participation based on information and consultation, and to enable employee representatives to infl uence managerial decision making. The Directive was also intended to take information and consultation out of competition insofar as when MNCs made investment decisions within Europe the information and consultation rights enshrined in the Directive would universally apply, rather than being a component of ‘regime shopping’.
