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The Impact of International Business Transfers on Employment Contracts*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

Herbert Kronke
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Extract

After ten years of EEC-guided harmonization of domestic legislation in the field of employees' rights in business transfers, the discussion seems to be gaining, rather than losing, momentum. In the beginning there was, on the part of the Commission, an awareness that divergent domestic rules as to the retention of rights and benefits of employees necessarily resulted in differing costs of business transfers jeopardizing the very prerequisites of a Common Market.

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Articles
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Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , May 1989 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1989

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References

1. Official Journal of the European Communities(OJ) No. L 61, 5 03 1977Google Scholar; Bartlett, M. A. S., ‘Employees' Rights in Mergers and Take-overs – EEC Proposals and the American Approach’, 25 ICLQ (1976) p. 621 et seqCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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23. Hoge Raad 13. 5. 1966, NJ 1967 No. 3. Legal doctrine had discussed the matter since the 1940s, especially in the Netherlands and Germany (e. g., Wengler, Zweigert, de Winter). For detailed analysis of the Alnati-Arrest, see van Rooij, R., De positie van publiekrechtelijke regels op het terrein van het internationaal privaatrecht (1976) p. 237 et seq.Google Scholar; also Verheul, J. P., Rechtsfinding in het internationaal privaatrecht(1973) p. 43Google Scholar. Comparative studies on the subject-matter include Drobnig, U., ‘Comments on Art. 7 of the Draft Convention’, in Lando, O. et al. , eds., European Private International Law of Obligations (1975) p. 82 et seq.Google Scholar; Kronke, , op. cit. n. 15, pp. 97–147Google Scholar (with special reference to labour law conflicts); Philip, A., ‘Mandatory Rules, Public Law (Political Rules) and Choice of Law in the E. E. C. Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations’, in North, , ed., op. cit. n. 7, p. 81 et seq.Google Scholar; B. von Hoffmann, ‘Assessment of the E. E. C. Convention from a German Point of View’, ibid., p. 221 et seq., at p. 229 et seq. On the present state of the discussion, see van Rooij, R. and Polak, M. V., Private International Law in the Netherlands (1987) pp. 129–131Google Scholar; van Maanen, G. E., in Netherlands Reports to the Eleventh International Congress of Comparative Law, Caracas 1982 (1982) p. 149Google Scholar; Schultsz, J. C., ‘Dutch Antecedents and Parallels to Article 7 of the EEC Contracts Convention of 1980’, 47 RabelsZ (1983) p. 267 et seqGoogle Scholar.

24. See Kreuzer, K. F., ‘Erklärung eines generellen Vorbehalts zu Art. 7 des Übereinkommens vom 19. 6. 1980’, 4 Praxis des International Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (1984) p. 293 et seq.Google Scholar; Martiny, D., ‘Der deutsche Vorbehalt gegen Art. 7 Abs. 1 des EG-Schuldvertragsübereinkommens vom 19. 6. 1980’, 7 Praxis des International Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (1987) p. 277 et seq.Google Scholar; Jayme, and Kohler, , loc. cit. n. 8, p. 137Google Scholar.

25. Martiny, loccit. n. 24.

26. For the Netherlands, see Hoge Raad12.1.1979, NJ 1980 No. 527 (note Schultsz), also in Rev. crit. (1980) p. 68 (note Van Rooij). For Germany (in a comparative perspective), see Basedow, J., ‘Private Law Effects of Foreign Export Controls – An International Case Report’, 27 GYIL (1984) p. 109 et seq.Google Scholar; Drobnig, U., ‘Die Beachtung von ausländischen Eingrifsgesetzen- eine Interessenanalyse’, in Festschrift für Neumayer (1985) p. 159 et seqGoogle Scholar.

27. Kronke, , loc. cit. n. 19, p. 160Google Scholar.

28. LAG Hamburg 22. 10. 1979, 1 Praxis des internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts (1981) p. 175Google Scholar.

29. Supra n. 19.

30. ArbG Hamburg 21. 9. 1983 – S 15 Ca 404/82 (obiter); 24. 10. 1986, S 1 Ca 84/86 (both still unpublished). In legal doctrine the same view was taken by Putzo, H., in Palandt, O., Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, 45th edn. (1986) paragraph 613a No. 1Google Scholar and Martiny, , in Reithmann, C. and Martiny, D., Internationales Vertragsrecht, 4th edn. (1988) No. 735Google Scholar. The authors have advised me that a different view will be taken by U. Drobnig and H.J. Puttfarken, Arbeitskampfrecht auf Schiffen fremder Flagge(forthcoming).

31. Horn, N., ed., Adaptation and Renegotiation of Contracts in International Trade and Finance (1985)Google Scholar.

32. For a (rare) treatment of the various aspects of this problem in English legal literature see Wolff, M., Private International Law, 2nd edn. (1950) pp. 160–166Google Scholar. Continental writers dedicating thorough analysis to this topic include Offerhaus, J., Aanpassing in het internationaal privaatrecht (1963)Google Scholar and Kegel, , op. cit. n. 10, p. 216 et seqGoogle Scholar.

33. Riva-Sanseverino, L., in Scialoja, A. and Branca, G., eds., Commentario del Codice civile Art. 2060- 2134 (1977) pp. 471, 472Google Scholar.

34. S. H. R. 20. 9. 1985, cited in Andersen, L. S., Lov om løanmodtageres retsstilling ved virksomhedsoverdragelse (1986) p. 55Google Scholar.

35. Cass. (ch. soc.) 9.5.1974, Bull civ. 278; 10.5.1976, Bull. civ. 238; 31.5.1978, Bull. civ. 1978, 310.

36. BAG 12. 5. 1976, Sammlung See-Arbeitsrechtlicher Entscheidungen, §613 a BGB, No.l.

37. See, for Belgium, , van Hoogenbemt, H., Bedrijfsoverdracht naar Europees en Belgisch sociaal recht (1983) p. 28 et. seqGoogle Scholar. with references to judicial decisions.

38. Seiter, H., Betriebsinhaberwechsel (1980) p. 52Google Scholar.