The Draft Fifth Company Law Directive (1972–1988) is a European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 proposal for a Directive, primarily aimed to implement a right of employees to vote for the boards of directors in large companies. The Directive went through 3 major revisions, but was never agreed to come into law by enough member states.

1972 revision

The first Draft Fifth Company Law Directive was issued in 1972
Proposed that companies must have two-tiered boards of directors and that companies of over 500 workers should appoint one third of members to a supervisory board.

1983 Revision

In 1983, in an attempt to secure new agreement a further revision was released. The requirement of two tier board was abandoned and the threshold was raised to 1000 workers before codetermination would be required. It envisaged that either board representation would be available for employees on a two or one tier board, or the option of another employee representative body that would receive a copy of all board materials.

1988 revision

The next attempt at revising the Directive allowed for a third to a half representation.