Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded between the general cross-industry organizations European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP) and the Union of Industrial and Employers Confederations of Europe (UNICE) on 14 December 1995 established minimum requirements in respect of parental leave and unforeseeable absence from work, as an important means of reconciling professional and family responsibilities, and promoting equal Opportunities and treatment for women and men. The framework Agreement annexed to the Directive is made obligatory. The Agreement provides for: (1) male and female workers to have individual entitlement to parental leave on the grounds of the birth or adoption of a child, enabling them to take care of the child for at least three months; (2) the conditions of access to, and procedures for, applying parental leave to be defined by law and/or collective agreement in the European Union (EU) Member States, subject to compliance with the minimum requirements of the agreement; (3) the Member States and/or social partners to take the necessary measures to protect workers against dismissal on the grounds of an application for, or the taking of, parental leave; (4) workers to have the right to return to the same job at the end of parental leave or, if that is not possible, to an equivalent or similar job consistent with their employment contract or relationship; (5) the maintenance of rights acquired or in the process of being acquired by the worker on the date on which parental leave starts; at the end of the period of leave, those rights will apply; (6) the Member States and/or the social partners to take the necessary measures to allow workers to take time off from work, in accordance with national legislation, collective agreements and/or practice, for unforeseeable reasons arising from a family emergency in the event of sickness or accident making the immediate presence of the worker indispensable. The EU Member States may introduce more favourable provisions than those laid down in the Directive. Implementation of the provisions of the Directive will not in any way constitute sufficient grounds to justify a reduction in the general level of protection afforded to workers in the field covered. The Member States are to determine the range of penalties applicable for infringements of national provisions pursuant to the Directive, and are to take all the necessary steps to ensure their implementation. The penalties applied must be effective and commensurate with the infringement, and must constitute a sufficient deterrent. See: Parental leave