18.8.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 207/25 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2003/72[EC of 22 July 2003 supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, and in particular Article 308 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2), Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (3), Whereas: 1 1 ) ) In order to attain the objectives of the Treaty, Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 (*) establishes a Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE). That Regulation aims at creating a uniform legal frame- work within which cooperatives and other entities and natural persons from different Member States should be able to plan and carry out the reorganisation of their business in cooperative form on a Community scale. In order to promote the social objectives of the Com- munity, special provisions have to be set, notably in the field of employee involvement, aimed at ensuring that the establishment of an SCE does not entail the disap- pearance or reduction of practices of employee involve- ment existing within the entities participating in the establishment of an SCE. This objective should be pursued through the establishment of a set of rules in this field, supplementing the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003. Since the objectives of the proposed action, as outlined above, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, in that the object is to establish a set of rules on employee-involvement applicable to the SCE, and can therefore, by reason of the scale and impact of the proposed action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of 0J C 236, 31.8.1993, p. 36. 0] C 42,15.2.1993, p. 75. %) 0] €223, 31.8.1992, p. 42. 4 See page 1 of this Official Journal. proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve these objectives. The great diversity of rules and practices existing in the Member States as regards the manner in which employees’ representatives are involved in decision- making within cooperatives makes it inadvisable to set up a single European model of employee involvement applicable to the SCE. Information and consultation procedures at transna- tional level should be ensured in all cases of creation of an SCE, with the necessary adaptation for SCEs formed ex novo where this is justified by their size, as measured in terms of employment. If participation rights exist within one or more entities establishing an SCE, they should in principle be pre- served through their transfer to the SCE, once estab- lished, unless the parties decide otherwise. The concrete procedures of employee transnational information and consultation, as well as, if applicable, participation, to apply to each SCE should be defined primarily by means of an agreement between the parties concerned or, in the absence thereof, through the application of a set of subsidiary rules. Member States should still have the option of not applying the standard rules relating to participation in the case of a merger, given the diversity of national systems for employee involvement. Existing systems and practices of participation where appropriate at the level of participating entities must in that case be maintained by adapting registration rules. The voting rules within the special body representing the employees for negotiation purposes, in particular when concluding agreements providing for a level of participation lower than the one existing within one or more of the participating entities, should be proportion- ate to the risk of disappearance or reduction of existing systems and practices of participation. That risk is greater in the case of an SCE established by way of transformation or merger than by way of creating an ex novo SCE.