EU Salary Transparency Directive Stalls as Many Member States Miss Deadlines

From June 2026, the EU’s Salary Transparency Directive requires employers to publish pay ranges in job ads, stop requesting candidates’ salary histories and let workers request colleagues’ salary information. The rule aims to narrow the 11.1% hourly gender pay gap across the bloc.

Only Italy, Slovakia, Malta and Lithuania fully incorporated the directive into national law by the June deadline. Belgium, Malta and Poland did so only partially. The Netherlands postponed the transposition deadline to January 2027, while Ireland has confirmed it will also miss the deadline. Estonia indicated it might prefer paying EU fines rather than fully applying the rules. Austria, Hungary and Luxembourg have taken no action, and several other states have not acted at all.

Eurodeputy Gabriele Bischoff warned that the lack of uniform implementation keeps a “veil” that hides and reproduces pay inequalities. The uneven rollout means the directive’s legal guarantees remain uneven in practice across the EU.