8.— (1) An agreement (in this section referred to as a “collective agreement”) may be made by or on behalf of an employer or hirer, or an association representing employers or hirers, on the one hand, and by or on behalf of a body or bodies representative of employees on the other hand providing for working and employment conditions that differ from the basic employment and working conditions applicable by virtue of section 6 as respects agency workers.

(2) The Labour Court may, upon the application by or on behalf of any of the parties to a collective agreement, approve that collective agreement.

(3) The Labour Court shall, upon receiving an application under this section, consult such representatives of employees and such representatives of employers as it considers are likely to have an interest in the matters to which the collective agreement concerned relates.

(4) The Labour Court shall not approve a collective agreement under this section unless the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the Labour Court is satisfied that it would be appropriate to approve the agreement having regard to paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the Directive;

(b) the agreement has been concluded in a manner usually employed in determining the pay or other conditions of employment of employees in the employment concerned;

(c) the body that negotiated the agreement on behalf of employees (or, in circumstances where the agreement was negotiated on behalf of employees by more than one body, each such body) is the holder of a negotiation licence under the Trade Union Act 1941, or is an excepted body within the meaning of that Act;

(d) the body or bodies that negotiated the agreement on behalf of employees is or are, in the opinion of the Labour Court, sufficiently representative of agency workers; and

(e) the agreement is in such form as appears to the Labour Court to be suitable for the purposes of its being approved under this section.

(5) Where the Labour Court is not satisfied that the condition referred to in paragraph (a) or (e) of subsection (4) is fulfilled but is satisfied that the other conditions referred to in that subsection are fulfilled, it may request the parties to the collective agreement concerned to vary the agreement in such manner as will result in the said condition being fulfilled and, where the agreement is so varied, the Labour Court shall approve the agreement as so varied.

(6) Where a collective agreement approved under this section is subsequently varied by the parties thereto, any of the said parties may apply to the Labour Court for approval by the Labour Court of the agreement as so varied under this section.

(7) The Labour Court may, if it is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for so doing, withdraw its approval of a collective agreement under this section.

(8) The Labour Court shall determine the procedures to be followed by—

(a) a person making an application under this section,

(b) the Labour Court in considering any such application or otherwise performing any of its functions under this section, and

(c) persons generally in relation to matters falling to be dealt with under this section.

(9) The Labour Court shall publish particulars of the procedures referred to in subsection (8) in such manner as it thinks fit.

(10) The Labour Court shall establish and maintain a register of collective agreements standing approved under this section and that register shall be made available for inspection by members of the public at all reasonable times.