No public legislative activity reported. Only minor adjustments expected given Austria's existing equal pay framework in place since 2011.

Status: partial (regional public sector only) — deadline missed. In early June 2026, Belgium's Minister for Employment and Minister for Equal Opportunities co-signed a letter to the European Commission formally requesting a six-month extension — the first Member State to do so. The request is unlikely to succeed: the Commission has rejected all postponement requests to date.

In force: the Wallonia-Brussels Federation decree (French-speaking public sector, since September 2024) and the Flemish public-sector decree (since 7 June 2026).

Federal private-sector draft: still unpublished. Realistic transposition horizon is now H1 2027. Belgian private-sector workers can rely on the directive's direct effect since 7 June 2026.

Status: Draft legislation published. Bulgaria published a draft transposition law in May 2026 (an amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act), open for public consultation until 2 June 2026. Its self-imposed 29 May 2026 National Assembly adoption target passed with no bill tabled and no public communication, so Bulgaria misses the 7 June 2026 deadline.

Direct effect applies from 7 June 2026: employees and job applicants in Bulgaria can rely on the directive against their employer for sufficiently precise and unconditional provisions, regardless of whether Bulgarian law is in force.

Bulgaria remains one of the EU Member States most exposed to infringement proceedings on the pay transparency file.

No public activity or draft law reported.

No specific pay transparency laws currently in force.

Comprehensive draft bill published January 26, 2026. Cyprus goes beyond directive minimums in several areas: broad definition of "pay" covering all cash and in-kind benefits, enhanced job evaluation requirements with explicit weighting of gender-neutral criteria, strong enforcement including labour inspector investigative powers, fines, and criminal liability.

Full transposition targeted for June 7, 2026. The National Gender Equality Strategy 2024-26 confirms implementation is underway.

Last update: March 26, 2026 — The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) published a draft amendment to the Labour Code transposing Directive 2023/970 for public consultation.

Explicit "minimalist transposition" approach. The Czech Republic will miss the June 7, 2026 deadline — entry into force is targeted for January 1, 2027, with reporting phased later.

Unique feature: the Czech Ombudsman (Veřejný ochránce práv) acts as a privacy intermediary in cases where sharing pay data could reveal individual compensation — a mechanism no other Member State has proposed.

Reporting: annual from 2028 for 250+ employees (using 2027 data), triennial from 2028 for 150–249, triennial from 2031 for 100–149.

Pay-secrecy clause ban effective since June 1, 2025 via an earlier Labour Code amendment.

Denmark held a general election on March 24, 2026, adding significant political uncertainty to the transposition process. The Social Democrats won the most seats (38) but at their lowest vote share since 1903 (21.9%). Neither the red nor blue bloc secured a majority, with coalition negotiations ongoing since March 25.

A draft bill implementing the Pay Transparency Directive was published for public consultation on February 26, 2026, with the consultation period closing March 27. The proposed effective date is January 1, 2027. The new parliament will need to restart the legislative process, adding further delay.

Key provisions in the Danish draft: salary range disclosure to job applicants; reporting obligations for employers with 100+ employees; broader scope extending to employers with 50+ employees where there are at least 8 employees of each gender in the same job category; first reporting due September 2028.

UPDATE — April 16, 2026: Estonia's Economic Affairs Minister Erkki Keldo announced that the government would rather pay European Commission infringement fines than transpose the directive in its current form, citing prohibitive compliance costs ("millions of euros and thousands of working hours" of business burden). A subsequent statement walked the position back slightly, but Estonia's posture is now clearly aligned with Sweden's: delay, renegotiate, accept fines if needed. Estonia hopes the new EU Commission composition will prove receptive to a 2-year postponement.

Status of the Palagapeegel ("Pay Mirror") digital reporting portal previously confirmed in development: now in limbo pending political clarity.

No draft transposition law has been published. Reporting was previously expected to apply to approximately 900 organisations (1% of all employers); first reports due in 2027 based on second-half 2026 data — both timelines are now uncertain.

Workers will be able to claim under the directive's direct effect from June 7, 2026 even where Estonian law is not in force.

Status: Draft in progress — government proposal scheduled for July 2026. In May 2026 the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health updated the legislative project schedule: the government proposal is now expected in July 2026, with parliamentary review in autumn 2026 and entry into force in late 2026 or early 2027. Implementation is intended at the Directive's minimum level. The original 18 May 2026 entry-into-force target has lapsed; public consultation closed 9 February 2026.

Key provisions in the draft:

• Starting salary or salary range disclosed early in the hiring process — in due time prior to salary negotiations.
• Employees entitled to written confirmation of their own salary and the average pay of colleagues of the opposite gender performing the same or equivalent work.
• Fines from €5,000 to €80,000 depending on severity, repetition, intent and employer size.

Direct effect applies since 7 June 2026 until the Finnish law enters into force.

Status: Draft bill — France missed the 7 June 2026 deadline. The revised transposition bill went to the Conseil d'État in June 2026; Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou stated on 29 June 2026 that he expects to present the bill in July, with parliamentary examination in H2 2026 and a vote hoped for before the 2027 presidential election. Target entry into force: 1 January 2028.

Phased compliance by company size (from promulgation): 150+ employees within 1 year, 100–149 within 3 years, 50–99 within 6 years.

Direct effect applies since 7 June 2026 for sufficiently precise and unconditional provisions.

Key provisions of the draft bill (subject to parliamentary amendment):

• 7 new pay gap indicators replacing the Index Égalité Professionnelle from 2027.
• Salary ranges mandatory in all job postings.
• Salary history ban.
• Burden of proof reversed (on the employer).
• Threshold at 50+ employees.
• Administrative fines up to 1% of payroll (2% for repeat offenders).

Status: In discussion — deadline missed. Germany missed the 7 June 2026 transposition deadline with no Referentenentwurf (draft bill) published. A cabinet decision expected for the end of June 2026 did not materialise; as of mid-July 2026 the government's stated target is implementation by early 2027, building on the expert commission's final report (recommending a bureaucracy-lean implementation) and the existing EntgTranspG (2017).

Since 8 June 2026 the directive applies directly to public employers, and German courts must interpret national law in conformity with the directive — key provisions already shape German employment law despite the absent implementation act.

Expected specifics remain: first pay gap reports based on 2026 payroll data, 100+ employee reporting threshold under discussion, extended works council (Betriebsrat) co-determination rights, revenue-based sanctions with possible exclusion from public procurement.

Status: Law adopted. Greece transposed Directive 2023/970 with Law 5316/2026, voted by Parliament on 2 July 2026 and published in the Government Gazette on 6 July 2026 — the fifth EU Member State to complete transposition and the first in southern Europe. The draft moved from public consultation (3–17 June) to adoption in one month.

Most operational obligations apply from 1 November 2026: pay information rights, recruitment transparency (salary range disclosure to candidates, salary history ban), gender pay gap reporting, joint pay assessments, remedies and protection against victimisation. Other provisions apply since 6 July 2026.

Transitional reporting rule: for employers with 150+ employees, the initial reference period runs from entry into force through 31 December 2026 — one of the shortest compliance runways in the EU.

No draft law or timeline published yet.

Status: In discussion. In a written answer to a parliamentary question on 26 May 2026, the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality formally confirmed Ireland will miss the 7 June 2026 deadline, citing late EC workshops (September 2025) and late EIGE/EC guidance (March 2026). The Pay Transparency Bill is not on the Government's Summer Legislative Programme priority list (RTÉ, 17 May 2026), and the Heads of Bill for the full transposition (including gender pay gap reporting) are still being drafted.

The Department of Children, Disability and Equality confirmed implementation will happen on a phased basis, starting with pre-employment salary disclosure. Employers will not be penalised for elements absent from Irish law on 7 June 2026.

The General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 (partial transposition covering pre-employment pay transparency) completed pre-legislative scrutiny in October 2025; a separate general scheme covering gender pay gap reporting and the remaining provisions has yet to be published.

Direct effect applies from 7 June 2026: individual workers can bring claims against employers regardless of whether Irish law is in place.

Status: Law in effect. Italy's transposition of Directive 2023/970 — Legislative Decree No. 96/2026 — was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 1 June 2026 and entered into force on 7 June 2026. Italy is one of only four EU Member States (with Slovakia, Lithuania and Malta) to transpose on time.

Reporting threshold: 100+ employees — the lowest in the EU. Annual reporting for 250+ employees from 2027; triennial for 150–249 from 2027; triennial for 100–149 from 2031.

5% trigger: an unjustified gender pay gap of 5% or more obliges the employer to justify it and initiate a joint evaluation with union representatives and the Labour Inspectorate to adopt corrective measures.

Pay disclosure in recruitment: from 7 June 2026, employers must indicate the initial remuneration or the salary range for the offered position. Salary-history questions are banned.

Worker information rights: two-month response window for average pay by gender and category. Coverage includes all public and private employers and subordinate employment relationships including managers; apprentices, domestic and intermittent workers excluded.

Status: Draft legislation published — deadline missed. Latvia's draft transposition law (first published 26 March 2026 by the Ministry of Welfare; consultation closed 9 April) is at the adoption stage before the Cabinet of Ministers and the Saeima, with no confirmed implementation timeframe. Latvia missed the 7 June 2026 deadline.

1:1 transposition with three notable deviations:

(1) Goes beyond the Directive by requiring pay details directly in job advertisements (mandatory in Latvia since 2018).

(2) Narrower definition of "remuneration", limited to regularly paid amounts — potentially excluding bonuses, benefits in kind and allowances.

(3) Low maximum penalty for corporate employers: €14,000, with no enhanced fines for repeat offenders.

Direct effect applies since 7 June 2026.

Status: Law in effect. Lithuania transposed Directive 2023/970 through Labour Code amendments enacted by the Seimas as Law No. XV-969 on 21 May 2026. Most provisions took effect on 7 June 2026, making Lithuania one of only four EU Member States (with Slovakia, Italy and Malta) to transpose on time.

In force from 7 June 2026: a ban on asking candidates about pay history, the express right of workers to disclose their own pay, and the right to request pay-level information by gender and category.

Deferred elements: employers have until 31 December 2026 to align internal pay systems, and monthly pay-data submission to the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SoDRA) begins on 1 January 2027. Salary indication in job postings has been mandatory in Lithuania since 2022.

No public activity reported. No draft law published.

Internal pay report to employee representatives every two years from 50 employees.

Voluntary tool ("Logib-Lux") available to analyse pay gaps.

Status: Law in effect. Malta completed full transposition of Directive 2023/970 with Legal Notice 173 of 2026 (Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026), published in Government Gazette No. 21,661 on 5 June 2026 with immediate effect — ahead of the 7 June deadline. This builds on the foundational pre-employment measures introduced by Legal Notice 112 of 2025 in August 2025.

Malta is one of only four EU Member States (with Slovakia, Italy and Lithuania) to transpose on time. The regulations cover pay transparency in recruitment, worker information rights and gender pay gap reporting obligations.

Status: Bill submitted to Parliament (Tweede Kamer). On 21 May 2026, the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment formally submitted the bill implementing Directive 2023/970 to the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer), moving it from the Council of State stage into the ordinary parliamentary process (committee scrutiny, debate, vote, then Senate). The Netherlands will miss the 7 June 2026 deadline; target effective date is 1 January 2027.

If the 1 January 2027 EIF is met, the first gender pay gap report for 150+ employers would be due 7 June 2028 (covering 2027); employers with 100–149 employees would follow by 7 June 2031.

Council of State opinion (7 April 2026): the bill's proposed postponement of the first reporting requirement for 150+ employers to 7 June 2028 was found not permitted under the directive; the reporting deadline is expected to be realigned with the directive's text.

Key provisions: 1:1 transposition approach, reporting every 3 years for 150+ and annually for 250+, joint pay assessment triggered at 5%+ unjustified gap with a 6-month rectification window, works council involvement for corrective measures. Direct effect applies from 7 June 2026 despite the national delay.

Status: Draft legislation published — 2026 entry into force now unlikely. Phase 1 (pre-employment pay transparency) has been in force since 24 December 2025. The second draft of the full implementation act (UC127, dated 29 April 2026, published 4 May) remains in inter-departmental coordination and public consultation; it was not published by end of June 2026, the threshold Polish practitioners flagged for entry into force in 2026. Realistic entry into force now slips to Q1 2027.

Reporting threshold: 100+ employees (more demanding than the Directive's 150+). Annual reporting for 250+; triennial for 100–249.

Formula: annual gender pay gap = (average pay of women − average pay of men) / average pay of men × 100%, with overall, variable-components, median, quartile and category-level indicators.

Pay-info response window: 30 days for most employers (14 days for companies under 50 employees) — far stricter than the Directive's 2 months. A centralised government job evaluation tool will be made available to employers.

No draft law published yet.

Status: Draft legislation published — revised text before the Senate under emergency procedure. Romania's draft transposition law was registered with the Senate on 17 June 2026 as draft law B392/2026; the emergency procedure was approved on 22 June 2026. On 7 July 2026 the Senate published a revised version of the text. Despite the emergency procedure, adoption is now expected in autumn 2026 — which would still make Romania the sixth Member State to transpose.

What changed in the revised text: fines are re-indexed to the national minimum gross wage (3–5 minimum wages for standard breaches, 5–10 for repeated breaches) and escalate automatically as the minimum wage rises; job applicants must receive itemized information on variable pay components and benefits, not just a global salary range; a 3-year limitation period applies to pay discrimination claims (running from the act, from awareness of it, or from termination); final CNCD discrimination findings can ground civil damages claims in court.

Key provisions: 30-working-day response window to pay information requests (stricter than the Directive's 2 months), extendable by another 30 working days; 90-working-day remediation window, extendable to 6 months; workers can formally request pay information via the CNCD/ANES.

Reporting thresholds: 250+ employees annually from June 2027; 150–249 every 3 years from June 2027; 100–149 triennial from June 2031. Reporting covers mean and median pay gap, variable components and quartile distribution. Joint pay assessments triggered at 5%+ unjustified gap.

Direct effect applies since 7 June 2026.

Status: Law in effect. Slovakia's Equal Pay Act (Act No. 76/2026 Coll., published 8 May 2026) entered into force on 7 June 2026 as scheduled. Slovakia was the first EU Member State to complete transposition (National Council adoption 15 April 2026) and is now live alongside Italy.

Goes beyond the Directive: equal-pay protections extend beyond male/female comparisons — same-sex employees performing equal work or work of equal value can also bring pay claims.

Reporting thresholds: first reports due 7 June 2027 for employers with 150+ employees. Annual reporting for 250+; triennial for 150–249.

Enforcement: the Labour Inspectorate can issue fines of up to €100,000.

Pre-employment: salary range disclosure obligations and salary-history ban aligned with directive minimums.

Last update: April 2026 — The Slovenian government has formed an inter-ministerial working group preparing draft legal solutions to transpose Directive 2023/970. The responsible ministry states it expects to meet the June 7, 2026 deadline.

No public draft text has been released yet.

UPDATE — July 2026: the draft Royal Decree is now on the table. In early July, the Ministries of Labour, Equality and Presidency put a draft Real Decreto transposing Directive 2023/970 into negotiation at the social dialogue table with unions and employer organisations. The Government targets approval by September 2026 at the latest, using the Royal Decree route to bypass Parliament and limit infringement exposure.

Key provisions of the draft: companies with 50+ employees must disclose the objective, gender-neutral criteria used to set pay and pay progression, and pay confidentiality clauses are removed. Workers gain the right to receive written information on their individual pay level within 2 months of requesting it. The pay register (Registro Retributivo) is extended to the whole workforce including executives — base salary, complements and extra-salary perceptions, with the median per professional group. Unjustified gender pay gaps above 5% must be corrected within 2 months.

Building on existing infrastructure: Spain already has the most developed equal-pay framework in the EU pre-directive — Registro Retributivo (mandatory pay registry) and Auditoría Retributiva (mandatory pay audits, 50+ employees). The Royal Decree layers directive-specific obligations on top.

Timeline: the text is under social-partner negotiation and may still change before approval. Spain missed the 7 June 2026 transposition deadline; the Directive has direct effect on public-sector employers since 8 June 2026.

Update — 22 May 2026: The European Commission formally confirmed that the Pay Transparency Directive will not be postponed or renegotiated, directly rejecting the Swedish government's request. With no domestic transposition bill, Sweden missed the 7 June 2026 deadline and is now exposed to infringement proceedings under Article 258 TFEU. Public-sector employers are nonetheless bound by direct effect from 7 June 2026.

On March 26, 2026, Sweden announced it will not submit the pay transparency directive proposition to the Riksdag and will instead push at EU level for a postponement of the deadline and a full renegotiation of the directive. Minister Nina Larsson stated the directive is "far too administratively burdensome" and risks "undermining its own gender equality goals."

Sweden originally voted against the directive in 2023. The government's position is that the directive's job evaluation and "equal value" work assessment requirements are incompatible with Sweden's collective bargaining model. Existing obligations under the Discrimination Act (lönekartläggning for employers with 10+ employees) remain in force.

Previously, Sweden had proposed implementation by January 1, 2027, with first salary reports to the Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) due by May 20, 2028. These timelines are now suspended pending the outcome of EU-level negotiations.

Key provisions from the suspended draft: obligations for 10+ employees for national pay analyses; EU-aligned reports for 100+ employers; fines SEK 150,000–500,000.