On 15 April, the European Parliament adopted in 1st reading the new directive on intra-corporate transfers of third-country nationals. According to Commissioner Malmstroem, third-country nationals are a small group of intra-corporate transferees, but are usually the highest-skilled and the most valuable for the company. They are therefore very important for EU economy and the present legal framework was not favorable for them. In fact, no single rules existed in the EU, the main disadvantage of which was that entry into each Member State of a third-country intra-corporate transferee was governed by a different set of rules and the admittance procedure had to be run even when the worker was transferred inside the EU. Following the adoption of this directive, however, one single set of rules will exist for the cases of intra-corporate transfers of third-state nationals and once a person is transferred inside the EU, he can be transferred almost freely inside the EU. Additionally, the transferee will be protected at the same level as EU workers and treatment of his family will be improved. The adoption by the Parliament followed an informal agreement with the Council. Formal adoption by the ministerial Council will follow shortly, after which Member States will have 30 months to transpose the directive into their national legislations.

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