(1) Where, as a result of a partial division or division by separation, the statutory pre-requisites for the involvement of the employees in the supervisory board cease to exist in a legal entity being acquired, the provisions applying prior to the division are to continue to be applied for a period of five years after the partial division or division by separation has taken effect. This does not apply if the provisions concerned are premised on a minimum number of employees comprising the workforce and if the number of employees of the legal entity being acquired that is calculated in accordance with said provisions falls to a number lower than, as a general rule, one quarter of this minimum number.
(2) Where the consequence of a division of a legal entity is that a business is divided, and where the rights of the works council, or its right to participation, cease to exist for the businesses that have resulted from the division, it may be agreed in a works agreement or a collective agreement that these rights or rights to participation are to continue in force. Sections 9 and 27 of the Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz – BetrVerfG) remain unaffected.