7.— (1) Subject to subsection (2) and section 9, the employer—

(a) may at his or her own initiative, or

(b) shall at the written request of at least 10 per cent of employees received either by him or her on the one hand, or by the Court or a nominee of the Court on the other hand,

enter into negotiations with employees or their representatives (or both) to establish information and consultation arrangements.

(2) The minimum requirement of 10 per cent of employees of the undertaking provided for in subsection (1)(b) shall be construed as meaning the lesser of—

(a) 10 per cent of the employees in the undertaking concerned (but not less, in any case, than 15 employees), or

(b) 100 employees,

(to be known and in this Act referred to as the “employee threshold”).

(3) Where a request is received by the Court or a nominee of the Court under subsection (1)(b), the Court or the nominee shall—

(a) notify the employer as soon as is reasonably practicable that the request has been made,

(b) request from the employer the information that it or its nominee requires to verify the number and names of the employees who have made the request, and

(c) issue a written notification to the employer and the employees who have made the request confirming how many employees have made the request and whether the employee threshold has been met on the basis of the information provided by the employees and the employer.

(4) Where the Court or its nominee requests information from the employer under subsection (3)(b), the employer shall provide the information requested as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(5) Where a notification under subsection (3)(c) confirms that the request meets the employee threshold, the date of receipt of the notification by the employer shall be taken to be the date on which the employer received the request.

(6) Within 6 months from commencing negotiations, the parties shall agree to establish an information and consultation arrangement by means of—

(a) a negotiated agreement under section 8, or

(b) the Standard Rules under section 10 (as set out in Schedule 1).

(7) The period of 6 months referred to in subsection (6) may be extended by agreement of the parties.

(8) If, at the time of making a request under subsection (1)(b), the employee threshold is not met, the employees of the undertaking shall not make a further request for negotiations until 2 years have passed from the date on which the initial or previous request was received by the employer or the date of receipt of notification by the employer under subsection (3)(c).