Länderübersicht



There is no right in Italy for employees to be represented at board level, although there is interest in the topic. Unions and employees agreed a joint opinion on the transposition of the directive, which was subsequently accepted by the government.

There is no employee board level representation in Italy in either the public or private sector, other than in a handful of companies which have voluntarily agreed to permit it. However, there is some interest in Italy in models of corporate governance which allow greater employee involvement at board level.

The unions and employers’ associations were deeply involved in the implementation of the directive in Italy in that they negotiated a text setting out the rules for its transposition in Italy, which was subsequently adopted by the government and passed as a legislative decree. The negotiations began early in 2003 and finally resulted in a joint opinion on the transposition of the directive in March 2005. The three main union confederations, CGIL, CISL and UIL were the signatories on the union side and the associations representing industry, banking, insurance, commerce and services signed for the employers.

The negotiations on the implementation of the directive resulted in a number of articles in the trade union and specialist press in Italy on the issue of employee involvement at board level. However, there was no wider public debate on the issue.

Special negotiating body (SNB)

Standard rules under the fallback procedure

Misuse of procedures and structural change