The European Commission launched a consultation on the published staff working document regarding transnational company agreements. Stakeholders can contribute with their views to the discussion on the future of these agreements until the end of the year.

The European Commission takes stock of expert group's work and outlines options for further steps Transnational Company Agreements (TCAs) with its new staff working document "Transnational company agreements: realising the potential of social dialogue". It now invites all interested parties to share their views on the challenges and opportunities faced by TCAs and on the specific options put forward before the end of the year. In January 2012, MEPs already approved a draft law which stressed that the transfer of multinational companies workers from outside the EU to the EU should be easier.

The results of the work carried out by an expert group in six meetings between 2008 and 2011 under the auspices of the Commission are shared in the staff working document. The group, made up of experts from Member States and the EU social partners, as well as academics and researchers, representatives of European institutions and company actors and the International Labour Organisation, monitored developments and exchanged good practice on transnational company agreements (TCAs).

Transnational Company Agreements (TCAs) are an evolving feature of social dialogue in multinational companies. They provide for voluntary solutions agreed between the company and workers' organisations/representatives to issues such as anticipation of change and restructuring, training, mobility, health and safety at work, or equality. By early 2012, more than 200 of such agreements had been recorded, covering more than 10 million employees in multinational companies, most of them with headquarters in the EU.