Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency: the rules that apply to you

This is the statutory tier for an employer in an EU member state: the directive's transposition deadline was 7 June 2026, and the member state's transposing law may add duties; this page reads the directive and not the national law.

22 controls held, every one stated in our words and cited to its clause, open the held framework.

• PTD-Art.10 Joint pay assessment
  Where pay reporting reveals a difference in average pay level between female and male workers of at least 5 % in any category that the employer cannot justify on objective, gender-neutral criteria and has not remedied within six months, the employer shall conduct, in cooperation with workers' representatives, a joint pay assessment.
• PTD-Art.11 Support for employers with fewer than 250 workers
  Member States shall provide support, in the form of technical assistance and training, to employers with fewer than 250 workers and to the workers' representatives concerned, to facilitate compliance with the Directive.
• PTD-Art.12 Data protection
  To the extent that information provided under the transparency and reporting measures (Articles 7, 9 and 10) involves the processing of personal data, it shall be provided in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679; personal data shall not be used for any purpose other than implementing the equal-pay principle, and pay information shall not lead to disclosure of an identifiable co-worker's pay other than as provided.
• PTD-Art.13 Social dialogue
  Member States shall, in accordance with national law and practice, take adequate measures to ensure the effective involvement of the social partners, including by discussing and concluding measures to address pay discrimination.
• PTD-Art.14 Defence of rights
  Member States shall ensure that, after possible recourse to conciliation, judicial procedures for the enforcement of the rights and obligations relating to the principle of equal pay are available to all workers who consider themselves wronged by a failure to apply equal pay.
• PTD-Art.15 Procedures on behalf or in support of workers
  Associations, organisations, equality bodies and workers' representatives may engage in judicial or administrative procedures to enforce equal-pay rights on behalf of or in support of a worker, with the worker's approval.
• PTD-Art.16 Right to compensation
  Workers who have suffered harm as a result of an infringement of any right or obligation relating to the principle of equal pay shall have the right to claim and obtain full compensation or reparation, including full recovery of back pay and related bonuses or payments in kind, and compensation for lost opportunities and non-material damage.
• PTD-Art.17 Other remedies
  Competent authorities or national courts shall be able to order, in accordance with national law, the cessation of the infringement and measures to ensure the application of the principle of equal pay, including structural or organisational measures.
• PTD-Art.18 Shift of burden of proof
  Where workers establish facts from which it may be presumed there has been direct or indirect pay discrimination, it shall be for the employer to prove that there has been no such discrimination; where an employer failed to comply with the transparency obligations, the burden shifts to the employer in the relevant proceedings.
• PTD-Art.19 Proof of equal work or work of equal value
  In assessing whether workers are performing the same work or work of equal value, the assessment shall not be limited to situations in which female and male workers work for the same employer but may extend to a single source establishing the pay conditions.
• PTD-Art.20 Access to evidence
  Member States shall ensure that, in proceedings, national courts can order the employer or a third party to disclose relevant evidence in their control, including confidential evidence subject to appropriate safeguards.
• PTD-Art.21 Limitation periods
  Member States shall ensure limitation periods for bringing equal-pay claims are at least three years and do not begin to run before the claimant knows, or can reasonably be expected to know, of the infringement.
• PTD-Art.22 Legal costs
  Member States shall ensure that claimants who prevail are not, in principle, required to bear the costs of proceedings in a manner that would make enforcement excessively difficult; courts may award costs against unsuccessful claimants only in limited circumstances.
• PTD-Art.23 Penalties
  Member States shall lay down rules on effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties (including fines) applicable to infringements of the rights and obligations relating to the principle of equal pay, taking into account aggravating factors such as repeated infringement.
• PTD-Art.24 Equal pay in public contracts and concessions
  Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, in the performance of public contracts or concessions, economic operators comply with their obligations relating to the principle of equal pay (and may require gender pay-gap reporting or penalties).
• PTD-Art.25 Victimisation and protection against less favourable treatment
  Workers and their representatives shall be protected against any adverse treatment or adverse consequence as a reaction to a complaint or to proceedings aimed at enforcing the principle of equal pay.
• PTD-Art.4 Equal work and work of equal value
  Member States shall ensure employers have pay structures ensuring equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, with objective, gender-neutral criteria (including skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions) for determining the value of work, and tools or methodologies to assess and compare the value of work.
• PTD-Art.5 Pay transparency prior to employment
  Applicants for employment shall have the right to receive from the prospective employer information on the initial pay or its range (based on objective, gender-neutral criteria) for the position; employers shall not ask applicants about their pay history, and vacancy notices/job titles shall be gender-neutral and recruitment processes non-discriminatory.
• PTD-Art.6 Transparency of pay setting and pay progression policy
  Employers shall make easily accessible to workers the criteria used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression, and those criteria shall be objective and gender-neutral (employers with fewer than 50 workers may be exempt from the pay-progression criteria requirement).
• PTD-Art.7 Right to information
  Workers shall have the right to request and receive in writing information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers performing the same work or work of equal value; employers shall inform all workers annually of this right and provide the information within two months.
• PTD-Art.8 Accessibility of information
  Information and reporting provided under the Directive shall be made accessible to persons with disabilities and take into account their particular needs.
• PTD-Art.9 Reporting on the pay gap between female and male workers
  Employers shall report on the gender pay gap in their organisation according to size-based thresholds and frequencies (employers with 250+ workers annually; 150-249 every three years; 100-149 every three years), covering the overall and median gaps, the gaps in complementary/variable components, and the gaps by category of worker.