European Commission publishes guidance on the Gender Pay Transparency Directive
At a glance
- The deadline for EU Member State implementation of the Gender Pay Transparency Directive (Directive) passed on 7 June 2026 and although, to date, only a handful of countries have introduced final legislation transposing the obligations, many are now making progress on implementing the new measures.
- In the meantime, the European Commission (Commission) has published a number of documents to help support employers with the requirements of the new pay transparency obligations.
- In March 2026, the Commission and the European Institute for Gender Equality published EU-wide guidelines on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification.
- In August 2026, the Commission published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document on the Directive. It also published a high level flyer.
Nearly three months after the deadline for EU Member State implementation of the Directive, five countries have new laws in force fully implementing the obligations, and many more are now making significant progress on draft bills.
In the meantime, the Commission, alongside the European Institute for Gender Equality, has launched updated EU-wide guidelines on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification. For more details, read our earlier article.
Now, the Commission has published a new FAQs document on the provisions of the Directive. Although the FAQs are expressed to just be the preliminary views of the Commission and are not to be regarded as stating the official position of the Commission, they are, nevertheless, likely to be helpful to employers.
The FAQs cover a number of key questions, including:
- Does the Directive apply to employers and workers covered by collective agreements?
- Which elements of pay must be included for the purposes of pay transparency measures?
- Does pay transparency comply with the General Data Protection Regulation?
- What is a category of workers?
At the same time, the Commission has also published a flyer giving high level information on the impact of the Directive.
