The Directive aimed to encourage the conclusion of voluntary social partner agreements as a method of creating European Works Councils. Article 13 exempted all companies that had set up an EWC based on an agreement before 22 September 1996, the date on which the national transpositions of the Directive came into force. This possibility proved to be a strong incentive for setting up EWCs.

In the year 1995 alone, the number of existing EWCs doubled from 37 to 80. The 323 EWCs set up in 1996 illustrate the incentive effect of Article 13 of the EWC Directive on the number of companies with EWCs. In the following ten years the number of companies having established EWCs doubled again, but much more gradually compared to 1996. Consequently, the progress made in establishing new EWCs was for many years underestimated.