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On 22 November 2005, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a judgement in a preliminary ruling procedure from theArbeitsgericht München(Labour Court Munich), answering questions concerning the interpretation of Clauses 2, 5 and 8 of the Framework Agreement on fixed-term contracts, put into effect by Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999, and as regards the construction of Article 6 of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. Essentially, theArbeitsgerichtwanted to know whether a statutory provision exempting employees of 52 years of age and older from limitations to the conclusion of fixed-term contracts was compatible with Community law.

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Recently, the German law governing atypical forms of work has been amended in several respects. TheBeschäftigungsförderungsgesetz1985 (BeschFG 1985 - Act on the Improvement of Employment Opportunities), regulating part-time work (Teilzeitarbeit) and (partially) fixed-term contracts (befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse), has been replaced by theGesetz über Teilzeitarbeit und befristete Arbeitsverträge(TzBfG - Act on Part-Time Work and Fixed-Term Contracts), in force since 1 January 2001, and implementing Directive 97/81/EC on Part-Time Work and Directive 99/70/EC on Fixed-Term Contracts. The legislator, however, did not confine himself to implementing EC law but regarded the obligation to implement the Directives as a stimulus to amend the right of part-time work and fixed-term contracts fundamentally. In doing so, he fixed a level of employee protection much higher than required by the Directives. The legal rules for temporary work (Leiharbeit) have not yet been fundamentally changed. But theJob-AQTIV-Gesetz(Job-AQTIV-Act) has amended it in a way at least partially anticipating the presumably soon to be adopted Directive on Temporary Work. Both acts, the Act on Part-time Work and on Fixed-Term Contracts as well as the Job-AQTIV-Act, aim at a reduction of the numbers of unemployed and the creation of employment opportunities. This article sketches and briefly comments on the new rules for fixed-term work, temporary and part-time work.

The Dutch and the German legislators have very recently introduced the employees' right to claim an adaptation of their individual working time which is mainly discussed under the label 'right to part-time work'. This article outlines the similarities and differences between the Dutch and the German legal situation and discusses these with regard to the European Directive 97/81/EC on part-time work.

Since 1991, the substantive content of EC legislation in the area of social policy has been formulated by organisations that have not been legitimated democratically: the European social partners. This procedure is being justified on the grounds of the employers associations and trade unions' «representativity». The following contribution aims to show that since the European social partners' representativity is partial and inadequate, this justification does not hold. The Community institutions are, therefore, called upon to safeguard the interests of those who are under- and mis-represented.