Recital (22)

In certain Member States, rightsholders under Directive 2009/38/EC encounter difficulties in bringing legal action to enforce their rights. It is therefore necessary to strengthen Member States’ obligations to ensure effective remedies and access to justice and the supervision by the Commission of their compliance with those obligations. With regard to rightsholders under that Directive, including special negotiating bodies and European Works Councils, Member States should, in accordance with national law on legal standing or on the form of legal representation, guarantee access to judicial proceedings and, where relevant, administrative proceedings to enforce the rights under Directive 2009/38/EC. Moreover, it should be clarified that the relevant proceedings have to enable timely and effective enforcement. Where Member States impose mandatory pre-judicial out-of-court settlement procedures, it is important to ensure that such requirements neither prevent parties from fully exercising their right of access to the judicial system nor make it in practice impossible or excessively difficult for them to exercise their rights under Union law, with regard to any delays, effects on time limits, costs and other potential obstacles. It should therefore be clarified in Directive 2009/38/EC that, where Member States render access to judicial proceedings conditional upon the prior implementation of an alternative dispute resolution procedure, that procedure should not prejudice or limit the right of the parties concerned to bring judicial proceedings. Moreover, for the purposes of supervision by the Commission, Member States should be required to notify the Commission of the manner and circumstances in which rightsholders under Directive 2009/38/EC can bring judicial proceedings and, where relevant, administrative proceedings, in respect of their rights under that Directive.