“Social dialogue” denotes all the manners of intervention of social partners and, by extension all the acts undertaken by them. European social dialogue plays an important role in the development of European employment law. As European law influences French law, it is useful to understand how French law deals with the acts of European social partners. European social partners participate actively in the development of European law through the manner of their involvement in legislative procedure and their engagement with employment policy. Such participation influences French law : French law is bound to transpose the directives which are drafted by social partners, Community law promotes the participation of national social partners in employment policy and in the implementation of directives, Community law stands as a model for the way in which the interaction of national social partners with French law may develop. The European social dialogue gives rise to development in codes of professional conduct. European social partners dictate industry-specific inter-professional norms which are also carried through multinational companies. In order to be effective, such norms have to be implemented by national social partners. This brings into being an actual European forum for negotiation in which Community social dialogue is interlaid with national social dialogue. These professional rules should be set down by more legitimate social partners.