Complete guide
The EU Pay Transparency Directive
A plain-language guide to Directive (EU) 2023/970 — what it requires, who it covers, when you report, and how it becomes law in your own country.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is the European Union's law for closing the gender pay gap through transparency. It gives workers the right to pay information, requires employers to report their gender pay gap, and forces action where unexplained gaps appear. It was adopted in 2023 and must be written into national law by every member state.
Because it is a directive, you never comply with it directly — you comply with your own country's transposing statute, which can set stricter rules, earlier dates or lower thresholds. This guide explains the common obligations the directive sets, then points you to your national position.
- Legal basis: Directive (EU) 2023/970, adopted 10 May 2023.
- Member states must transpose it into national law by 7 June 2026.
- Reporting phases in by size: employers with 250+ employees first, then 150+, then 100+.
- An unjustified gender pay gap of 5% or more that isn't closed can trigger a joint pay assessment.
What the directive covers
What the directive requires
The directive works across the whole employment lifecycle: pay transparency before and during employment, an objective way to compare jobs, regular pay-gap reporting, and a duty to act on gaps that can't be explained. The sections below cover each obligation and link to a detailed explainer.
Establishing work of equal value
Equal pay applies not only to identical roles but to different jobs of equal value. Employers must be able to compare roles using objective, gender-neutral criteria — skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
Work of equal value →The statutory pay-gap report
In-scope employers must report their gender pay gap — overall, and broken down by categories of workers doing equal work — to a national authority on a set cadence. The first report falls earliest for the largest employers.
The statutory pay-gap report →The joint pay assessment
Where reporting shows an average gap of at least 5% in a category of equal work, and it isn't justified on objective grounds or closed within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives.
The joint pay assessment →Workers' right to pay information
Employees can ask for the average pay of workers doing the same work or work of equal value, broken down by sex. Employers must tell staff about this right, and pay-secrecy clauses that block it are banned.
Workers' right to pay information →Pay transparency in recruitment
Candidates must be told the starting pay or range before interview, employers can't ask about pay history, and job adverts and titles must be gender-neutral.
Pay transparency in recruitment →Who's covered, and by when
Obligations phase in by headcount, starting with employers of 250 or more and extending to 150+ and then 100+ over several years. Your real deadline is set by your national law.
Who's covered, and by when →Penalties and enforcement
The directive shifts the burden of proof to the employer in equal-pay disputes, guarantees full compensation for underpaid workers, and requires member states to set effective, dissuasive penalties including fines.
Penalties and enforcement →How it becomes law in your country
Each member state transposes the directive into its own statute, so thresholds, reporting dates and enforcement differ. Look up any EU country to see its transposition status, competent authority and links to the national law.
Look up your country →How to prepare
A practical sequence: get clean, complete pay and workforce data, adopt an objective equal-value framework, measure your gap, and close what you can't justify before the first report is due.
How to prepare →Frequently asked
What is the EU Pay Transparency Directive?
It is Directive (EU) 2023/970, an EU law adopted in 2023 that tackles the gender pay gap through transparency — giving workers the right to pay information, requiring employers to report their pay gap, and forcing joint action where unexplained gaps persist. Member states must write it into national law by 7 June 2026.
Who does it apply to?
Ultimately all employers, but the reporting duty phases in by size: employers with 250 or more employees report first, followed by those with 150+ and then 100+. Smaller employers face lighter or later reporting, though transparency and equal-pay rules still apply. Exact scope is set by each country's transposing law.
When do employers have to report?
The directive's transposition deadline is 7 June 2026, with the largest employers (250+) reporting first. The precise first-reporting date depends on your national law, which may be earlier or later than the EU baseline.
What happens if there is a pay gap?
A gender pay gap on its own isn't a breach. But an average gap of 5% or more in a category of equal work that the employer can't justify on objective, gender-neutral grounds, and doesn't close within six months, triggers a joint pay assessment with worker representatives.
Key terms, defined
Work of equal value, joint pay assessment, categories of workers and more — the directive's vocabulary in plain language.
Open the glossary →