EU Pay Transparency Directive explained
Last reviewed 2026-10-16
Directive (EU) 2023/970 sets a common floor for pay transparency: information for applicants, a worker’s right to pay-level information, gender-neutral criteria for comparing work, and gender pay-gap reporting for employers with 100 workers or more. Member States transpose it. These pages cite the Directive. They do not restate national statutes.
Guides
- Who must report, and when
Article 9 size bands and the Directive dates for a first gender pay-gap report: 7 June 2027 and 7 June 2031.
- Joint pay assessment
Article 10: when a reported category gap of at least 5% is not justified and not fixed within six months, the employer assesses pay with worker representatives.
- The right to pay information
Article 7: a worker can request their pay level and average pay levels, by sex, for the same work or work of equal value. The reply is due within two months.
- Pay information for applicants
Article 5: applicants receive the initial pay or its range, and relevant collective-agreement provisions, before pay is negotiated. Employers do not ask pay history.
- Equal work and categories of workers
Article 4: pay structures use objective, gender-neutral criteria so workers can be compared. Skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions are the named criteria.
- Pay setting and pay progression
Article 6: workers can see the criteria for pay, pay levels and pay progression. Member States may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the progression part.
- What an Article 9 report contains
The gender pay gap figures Article 9 lists: mean and median gaps, variable components, quartiles, and the gap by category of workers.
- Worker representatives and equality bodies
Where the Directive gives representatives a role: criteria, information requests, report clarifications, and the joint pay assessment.
- Remedies and penalties
The Directive requires compensation and effective penalties. It does not set fine amounts. Amounts, if any, are national.
- What this Directive does not, by itself, require
A directive is transposed. This product does not file a national report, does not state that every employer is already in scope, and does not give legal advice.
Country pages and tools
Source
Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency (adopted 2023-05-10)
Update log
- 2026-10-16 — Pillar and ten guides published. Each page cites Directive (EU) 2023/970.
Informational only. This is not legal advice and not a statement of national law. Statutory claims cite Directive (EU) 2023/970 and carry a last-reviewed date. A Member State duty exists only when that State’s law says so. See the country pages for a dated status snapshot.