Spain moves to strengthen pay transparency and implement EU Gender Pay Transparency Directive

At a glance

• Spain’s Ministry of Labour and Social Economy (Ministry) has launched a public consultation on a draft Royal Decree that aims to reinforce pay transparency and equal pay rights in the workplace.
• The initiative aims to fully transpose the EU’s Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive) into Spanish law, tightening employers’ obligations and broadening workers’ rights to information and redress in cases of pay discrimination.
• Public input is open from 24 April to 8 May 2026, ahead of the formal drafting of the Royal Decree, with the government working against a 7 June 2026 deadline to complete the transposition.

The Ministry has just launched a public consultation on a new draft law to implement the Directive. The consultation is open until 8 May 2026.

Spain already has a relatively developed legal framework on pay equality. The Workers’ Statute guarantees equal pay and prohibits direct and indirect sex discrimination, while equality plans, pay registers, and pay audits have been mandatory in many companies since 2020. Notably, firms with 50 or more employees must maintain a pay register and justify gender pay gaps exceeding 25%.

However, the Ministry acknowledges that current rules do not fully meet the Directive’s standards. The forthcoming Royal Decree is intended to bridge those gaps by introducing new obligations, particularly around transparency before recruitment; access to individual and aggregate pay information; systematic reporting of gender pay gaps; and clearer consequences for non-compliance.

According to the consultation document, the planned Royal Decree would broaden workers’ rights to information and impose stricter duties on employers in areas such as job advertising; pay-setting policies; career progression; and pay audits. The objective is not only to make inequalities visible, but also to make them easier to challenge by reversing information asymmetries that have traditionally worked against victims of discrimination.

By reinforcing transparency and enforcement mechanisms, the government hopes to ensure that equal pay for work of equal value is not merely a legal principle, but a practical and enforceable right in Spanish workplaces.

This consultation, however, is just a first step in the process of implementing Directive. The deadline is 7 June 2026 and it is not yet certain that transposition will be complete within this timeframe.