Framework Agreements are the result of the European social dialogue autonomous process.
To date the European social partners have concluded six cross-industry framework agreements under
Articles 138 and 139 of the Treaty.
Two different procedures exist for their implementation:
- either the European social partners ask the Council to adopt a decision (in practice, this is a directive, proposed by the Commission). In this way, the agreement becomes part of EU law;
- or they make their national member organisations responsible for implementing the agreement in accordance with the procedures and practices specific to management and labour. Such agreements are known as "autonomous agreements".
You will find below the text of the original agreements (indicated with an asterisk*) and related translations as well as other documents published either by the European Commission and/or by the European social partners that accompany the implementation of each framework agreement.
