The EU Pay Transparency Directive

Austria's transposition deadline has passed without implementing legislation. A draft bill has recently been published by the Ministry of Labour, but it has attracted sharp criticism from employer organisations for what they describe as excessive gold-plating — going well beyond the Directive's requirements and, in their view, adding significant bureaucratic burden without delivering commensurate benefit.

The debate in Austria is particularly charged. Employers argue that the country's well-established collective bargaining system has already ensured equal pay for equivalent roles for decades, and that the adjusted gender pay gap largely reflects career path choices, part-time work patterns and sectoral composition rather than direct discrimination. Some also warn that excessive transparency could disincentivise the rewarding of top performers, for fear of triggering discrimination claims.

Employee organisations reject this analysis entirely, and the political impasse shows no sign of quick resolution. As our Austrian colleagues put it, implementation looks to be "yet a long way to go" — even as the deadline has already passed.

Belgium falls in the "partial" category. In force since January 2025 is a decree covering the public sector of the French Community (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles). Full federal private-sector transposition, however, remains pending — Belgium has formally requested a six-month grace period from the European Commission before infringement proceedings are initiated, which provides a rough indicator of the earliest expected arrival of full national legislation: late 2026.

The complexity in Belgium goes beyond timing. National collective labour agreements will need to be renegotiated to some degree to align with the Directive's requirements, which adds a layer of social dialogue that cannot be fast-tracked.

Martijn Baert, Baker Tilly Belgium, confirms the current position and notes that further detail will follow as the federal process moves ahead.

France missed the deadline. A first draft bill was shared with social partners in March 2026, and a revised version was introduced on 5 June — but neither made it through parliament before 7 June. The Minister of Labour has indicated a target of 1 January 2027 for entry into force.

France is not starting from scratch: the Index de l'égalité professionnelle, in place since 2019, already requires companies with 50 or more employees to calculate and publish a composite gender equality score. The pending law will layer additional obligations on top, particularly around salary range disclosure in recruitment and the extended individual right to comparator pay information. Draft provisions include penalties of up to 1% of total payroll for failures on pay gap reporting or corrective measures.

Employers with French operations should use the autumn to align existing Index processes with what the Directive will require — treating the existing framework as a foundation rather than the finish line.

Contribution by Kerstin Weckert, Baker Tilly (Germany)

Germany will miss the transposition deadline. An expert commission appointed by the Federal Ministry published a detailed report in October 2025 recommending a "bureaucracy-reduced" approach to transposition, but no legislative bill has followed. National implementing legislation is now expected in early 2027 at the earliest, with full reporting obligations and the extended right to information likely operational from June 2028.

This does not, however, amount to a compliance holiday.

For public-sector employers — ministries, public authorities, municipalities, and state-controlled entities — the Directive applies directly and in full from 8 June 2026. For private employers, the existing Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (General Equal Treatment Act) and the Remuneration Transparency Act of 2017 must now be interpreted in line with the Directive's principles. Additionally, Article 157 TFEU — the Treaty-level equal pay provision — applies directly between private parties, meaning employees can bring pay discrimination claims on that basis today, without waiting for a national law.

A further signal from the courts: a Federal Labour Court decision of October 2025 (case 8 AZR 300/24) confirmed that a comparison with a single higher-paid colleague of the other gender is sufficient to raise a presumption of discriminatory pay. The threshold for employees bringing claims is falling steadily.

The practical upshot for employers in Germany: audit existing pay structures for gender neutrality, prepare salary ranges for job advertisements, build the documentation needed to withstand a reversal of the burden of proof, and — where a works council exists — review co-determination implications on pay criteria and comparison groups.

Italy is one of the four Member States to have met the deadline. Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026 was published in the Official Gazette on 1 June 2026 and entered into force on 7 June.

Italy's transposition is relatively faithful to the Directive's text, without major gold-plating. Its most distinctive national design choice is the central role assigned to national collective bargaining agreements (NCBAs) as the primary reference framework for assessing "same work" and "work of equal value." Employers applying a NCBA from a nationally representative union benefit from a presumption of compliance — though that presumption is rebuttable.

A number of obligations apply immediately to all employers, regardless of size: salary ranges must be disclosed in job advertisements, candidates may not be asked about previous pay, and employees have a day-one right to request written information on their pay level and the average pay of comparable colleagues, broken down by gender. Employers must respond within two months.

For employers with 50 or more employees, pay determination and progression criteria must be documented and accessible to staff. For those with 100 or more, gender pay gap reporting obligations begin — with first reports due from larger employers by June 2027.

Italy's employers should have been moving since before 7 June. If they haven't started, they are already behind.

Input from Tamara Westerneng, Baker Tilly (Netherlands)

The Netherlands has been among the more proactive Member States in substance: its proposed legislation is widely regarded as one of the closest implementations to the Directive's text, with a broad definition of pay and a carefully structured right-to-information framework. The problem is timing. The Minister of Social Affairs confirmed in March 2026 that entry into force before 1 January 2027 is not feasible.

The practical consequence for employers: the first reporting cycle for larger employers (150+) will be based on 2027 payroll data, not 2026, with reports expected in June 2028. Employers with 100–149 employees will follow the Directive's original timeline, reporting in June 2031 on 2030 data. Transparency obligations — salary ranges in job postings, ban on salary history questions — are expected to apply from 1 January 2027.

As Tamara notes: "Implementation has been delayed, with entry into force now expected per 1 January 2027. As a result, the reporting timelines are effectively pushed out — first reporting for larger employers expected on 2027 data. No material deviations to flag at this stage".

Contribution by Joanna Jędrzejewska, Baker Tilly (Poland)

Poland is in the "partial" camp. Amendments to the Labour Code implementing Article 5 of the Directive — on pay transparency at the recruitment stage — have been in force since 24 December 2025. Employers must now provide candidates with information on the starting pay or pay range, based on objective and gender-neutral criteria.

The broader implementing legislation, covering pay gap reporting and the extended right to information, is still working through the governmental process. A revised draft was published on 29 April 2026, but it has not yet been submitted to Parliament.

Polish employers are already focusing on three practical challenges: developing a sound methodology for calculating and explaining pay gaps; defining objective, gender-neutral pay criteria in a legally defensible way; and managing the interaction between pay transparency and personal data protection. This last point is particularly sensitive in smaller organisations, where disclosed pay information could more easily be traced back to specific individuals.

Contribution by Nancy Prieto, Baker Tilly (Spain)

Spain presents a genuine paradox. The domestic equal pay framework is one of the more developed in the EU: a mandatory gender pay register for all companies, remuneration audits and equality plans for employers with 50 or more staff, and an existing legal duty to justify pay gaps of 25% or more by objective, gender-neutral criteria. In some respects, Spanish employers are already operating to higher standards than the Directive's minimum requires.

However, no transposition legislation has been published. A prior public consultation closed on 8 May 2026 — the very first step before a draft Royal Decree can even be prepared. The deadline has been missed, and no confirmed timeline exists. During EU-level negotiations, Spain's Ministry of Labour was vocal in opposing the extension of reporting obligations to smaller employers — a signal worth watching when the eventual national law takes shape.

As Nancy Prieto notes, the absence of a transposing law does not create a compliance vacuum. Spanish courts are already required to interpret existing equal pay legislation — including Article 28 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, pay registers and salary audits — in line with the Directive's objectives. Public sector employers may face direct effect arguments today. The practical advice: do not treat the legislative delay as a holiday. Start reviewing pay structures, salary bands and the justification for existing pay differentials now — particularly bearing in mind that the Directive's 5% trigger for corrective action will eventually replace the current 25% threshold under Spanish law.