Article 2 of the Directive stipulates that member States must transpose the provisions of the Directive into national law by 1 February 2019.

The Government of Ruritania (fictitious Member State) decides that it is not necessary to adopt new legislation in order to implement the Parental Care Directive. It believes that Ruritania already provides sufficient social protection for employees with pre-school aged children, taking into account the need - as the Government sees it - to ensure that child care costs imposed on businesses need to be kept to a minimum in order for them to remain competitive in national and international markets. The Ruritania Parliament had passed the Child Care Act 2014. Section 1 of that Act requires employers with 1,000 or more employees operating in any one establishment to ensure that crche facilities are made available to employees by 31 December 2022.

In April 2019, the following people come to you for legal advice: Ms Blue is an employee of Rurinshire County Council which has more than 2,000 staff. There is no crche at the workplace. Local crches have long waiting lists. Mr Green is employed by DataNet Ltd, a private Ruritania company employing 100 workers. Green is a parent with two pre-school aged children. No crche facilities are provided by DataNet and both of Green's children are on waiting lists to get into local crche facilities. To care for his children, Green has had to reduce his working hours and consequently take a pay cut.

Advise Green and Blue of their rights under EU law with regard to the Parental Care Directive.