According to European Union (EU) legislation, employers have the obligation to notify the competent public authorities in writing of any projected collective redundancies. EU Member States may provide that in case of planned collective redundancies arising from the termination of the establishment's activities as a result of a judicial decision, the employer shall be obliged to notify the competent authority in writing only if the latter so requests. Such a notification shall contain all relevant information concerning the projected collective redundancies and the consultations with workers' representatives, and particularly the reasons for the redundancies, the number of workers to be made redundant, the number of workers normally employed and the period Over which the redundancies are to be effected. Employers have the obligation to forward to the workers' representatives a copy of the various notifications. The workers' representatives may send any comments they may have to the competent public authorities. Projected collective redundancies notified to the competent public authorities shall take effect not earlier than 30 days after notification, without prejudice to any provisions governing individual rights with regard to notice of dismissal. EU Member States may grant the competent public authorities the power to reduce this period. The period shall be used by the competent public authority to seek solutions to the problems raised by the projected collective redundancies. Where the initial period provided is shorter than 60 days, Member States may grant the competent public authority the power to extend the initial period to 60 days following notification, where the problems raised by the projected collective redundancies are not likely to be solved within the initial period. Member States, however, need not apply the above mentioned procedure to collective redundancies arising from termination of the establishment's activities where this is the result of a judicial decision. Member States may grant the competent public authority wider powers of extension. The employer must be informed of the extension and the grounds for it before expiry of the initial period usually provided. See: EU Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998. See: Collective redundancies; Termination of employment