Country guide
Pay transparency in France
What the EU Pay Transparency Directive means for employers in France, based on its national transposition — status, thresholds, the joint-assessment trigger, and where to file.
France retains its existing Index de l'égalité professionnelle (Index Egapro) under the Loi Avenir Professionnel 2018, which continues to bind until the transposition commences. The transposition bill, PJL n° 944, was deposited at the Sénat on 10 September 2026: every employer of 50 or more declares gender pay-gap indicators annually (L. 1142-8), with the per-category equal-value gap declared only every three years by employers of 50–249; a worker's right to the average pay of their equal-value category answered within a décret-set delay capped at two months (L. 1142-7); a pay range in every job advertisement and a ban on salary-history questions (L. 5332-2-1, L. 1221-6); and a penalty of up to 1% of payroll, 2% on repeat within five years (L. 1142-10-1). It commences on a date fixed by décret, at most one year after promulgation (Art. 21); the government's stated target of 1 January 2028 is a secondary report, not a provision of the text. The nature of the indicators, the joint-assessment percentage, the small-cohort floors and every response delay are left to décrets not yet made.
France has a transposition bill in progress but has not yet enacted it. The figures below reflect the directive's defaults and the draft as it stands, and may change before the law is final.
France sets reporting duties by employer size; the table below lists each band as the law states it. The directive's 5% trigger for a joint pay assessment applies until national law sets its own.
The pay-gap figures must be published, not just filed with the authority. Either way, the underlying work is the same: establish work of equal value through gender-neutral job evaluation, produce the statutory pay-gap report in the national format, and run a joint assessment where the gap is too wide.
Obligations at a glance
| Reporting threshold | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Laws in force |
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| Joint pay assessment | The directive's 5% trigger for a joint pay assessment applies until national law sets its own. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Public publication | Required | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competent authority | DREETS (Directions régionales de l'économie, de l'emploi, du travail et des solidarités) / DARES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently asked
Is the EU Pay Transparency Directive in force in France?
France has a transposition bill in progress but has not yet enacted it. The figures below reflect the directive's defaults and the draft as it stands, and may change before the law is final.
Which employers have to report in France?
France sets reporting duties by employer size; the table below lists each band as the law states it. 50 to 250 employees, from 2020.
What triggers a joint pay assessment in France?
The directive's 5% trigger for a joint pay assessment applies until national law sets its own.
This guide summarises publicly available information for orientation only. It is not legal advice — confirm every figure against the national transposition text (France) before relying on it.