In the Eleventh Hour: Implementation Status of the EU Pay Transparency Directive

With a 7 June Member State implementation deadline barely a month away, employers still face significant uncertainty as to how individual EU Member States will implement the European Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. Compliance in such a fragmented landscape is a challenge, but this article provides insight into the direction of implementation and what employers can anticipate. 

Because PTD implementation is highly dynamic, the status of Member State laws is subject to frequent change. This article provides an update based on information available at the time of publication. We encourage you to contact Littler’s PTD Steering Committee for the most up-to-date, in-depth analysis for your European footprint. You can access additional resources, including Littler’s Implementation Tracker, on Littler’s EU Pay Transparency Directive webpage. 

Status of Implementation

Efforts to Delay the PTD

At the end of March 2026, the Swedish government announced that it will seek to “renegotiate” parts of the PTD and will therefore postpone implementing the PTD into national law because the PTD’s design is administratively burdensome and risks reducing gender equality gains.

Following this, Estonian state media reported that the Estonian government formally asked the European Commission to delay the date by which Member States were required to implement the PTD, arguing that its requirements would significantly increase the administrative burden on local businesses. However, two weeks later, Estonia tweaked its stance and is now progressing with limited domestic law reforms. While the announcement emphasised that Estonia supports the objectives of the PTD, the most onerous employer obligations (such as detailed pay structures, regular pay reporting for larger employers, and related explanatory duties) are being put on hold for the time being, pending discussions with the European Commission on how to minimise the administrative burden on businesses. 

We are seeing other efforts to try to ‘stop the clock’ with regards to PTD implementation. For example, Business Europe, one of Europe’s largest business organisations representing 42 national business organisations in the EU region, published a statement in February 2026 urging EU legislators to simplify the PTD and grant a two-year extension to Member States to implement the PTD. 

In Belgium, the National Labour Council, a body comprising representatives from employer and employee organisations that advises the Belgian government on social matters, is currently discussing PTD implementation within the existing national collective labour agreements. However, the employer organisations have withdrawn from negotiations in support of the ‘stop the clock’ movement, advocating for the European Commission to simplify the PTD and provide more time for Member States and employers to prepare. This will stall implementation in Belgium, as the national collective labour agreements will need to be renegotiated to some degree to align to the requirements of the PTD. 

Notably, none of these efforts seem to have made a material impact.

Although the European Commission has not issued a public response to these statements and actions, indicators suggest that it will not entertain renegotiation or postponement of the PTD. According to several sources, at a meeting in late April 2026, the Commission stated that no postponement would be possible and the deadline for transposition remains 7 June 2026.

When an EU Member State misses the deadline to put a directive into national law, the European Commission can start infringement proceedings and the European Court of Justice may impose financial penalties. This is not just theory – it happens in practice. For example, Spain missed the deadline to implement the Work-Life Balance Directive and, as a result, was hit last summer with a €6.83 million fine plus a daily penalty until compliance is achieved. In July 2025, the Commission also launched infringement procedures against 18 Member States for failing to fully transpose another directive. So, there is a clear financial incentive for countries to meet these deadlines. 

However, as set out below, this deterrent does not seem to be spurring compliance across Europe.

No Indicated Effective Date

A number of Member States have not indicated an effective date associated with their published draft legislation (Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, and Sweden—the status of Sweden’s draft legislation is further complicated based on their renegotiation announcement). It is unclear whether or not these countries will rush to meet the 7 June 2026 deadline. 

Other Member States, such as Germany and Spain, have taken preliminary steps towards implementation. For example, in late April 2026, the Spanish government launched a prior public consultation ahead of the drafting of the transposing legislation. Although the prior public consultation documentation notes the 7 June 2026 deadline, with no draft legislation and given the current timing and length of the remaining legislative process, it appears unlikely that this deadline will be met.

Our working assumption is that, due to the June deadline being just a month away, if a country has not yet published draft legislation it is more likely than not they will miss the implementation deadline.

Delayed Effective Date

Seven Member States are targeting a delayed effective date: Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, and Poland. While France has publicly announced it will meet the June 7, 2026 deadline, the draft legislation is not listed on the Parliamentary agenda for May so it is unlikely that the draft will be passed into law by the deadline.

These draft laws contain provisions that range from a self-proclaimed ‘minimalistic’ approach to significant changes in local law. For example, in late March 2026, the Czechia government published its draft implementation legislation. Czechia previously put a law into effect that implemented a very small part of the PTD (i.e., the prohibition against contractual terms that restrict workers from disclosing information regarding pay). The more recent proposal stated its intent to adopt a ‘minimalist’ approach, but in reality the approach is a conservative and structured transposition of the PTD, with several procedural particularities rooted in domestic labour law traditions rather than strictly deferring to the PTD. 

Met or Targeting the June 2026 Effective Date

Six Member States appear to continue to target a 7 June 2026 effective date for either full or partial implementing legislation. Italy, Lithuania, and Romania anticipate passing their comprehensive draft laws by the deadline with 7 June 2026 effective dates. Malta and Poland will both partially meet the deadline as they have laws in effect that implement only a small part of the PTD dealing with pay disclosure. 

Slovakia is the only country to date to have passed comprehensive implementing legislation. The bill is waiting for signature and official publication, which should occur in time for the June effective date.

First (and Only) Comprehensive Implementing Measure Passed

On April 15, 2026, the Slovak parliament passed legislation transposing the PTD. Key points targeted for 7 June 2026 implementation include: 

• Employers will be required to have established specific criteria for determining whether employees perform work of equal value, and these criteria must also be made available to employees. If there are employee representatives, the criteria must be agreed upon with the employee representatives
• Employers will be required to provide job applicants with the pay or pay range as well as the relevant pay provisions of any relevant collective bargaining agreement prior to the job interview or before concluding an employment contract with the employee
• An employee will be entitled to request information about their pay level. Starting in 2028, employees are also entitled to the average pay of employees performing the same work or work of equal value, broken down by sex for the previous calendar year

Other aspects of compliance have been pushed later, allowing for a phased introduction for compliance for employers in Slovakia. For example, by 31 July 2026, employers will be required to have in place a pay structure that considers whether employees are performing work of equal value, based on objective criteria specified by law, and during 2026, employers will be required to actively inform employees of their right to relevant information and the procedure for obtaining it. Reporting obligations will come into force in 2027 for employers employing at least 150 employees and in 2031 for employers with 100-149 employees.

What if the Deadline is Missed?

What is important to note is that until a Member State actually implements the PTD into national law, no new PTD-related obligations come into play. Workers cannot bring claims against their employers in that Member State based on the PTD itself – they must rely on the local implementing legislation to do so. 

However, we advise against a wait-and-see approach, in part because of some potential risks:

1. Compliance risk: Employers cannot count on having a grace period and will need to be prepared before the local implementing legislation comes into effect
2. Existing rights: Principles like equal pay for equal work and the ban on pay discrimination already exist in EU and certain individual Member State law and can be enforced now. In fact, there have been successful claims based on these principles, even before the PTD was published. We see employers struggle to comply under the current regime, so it is helpful to prepare now for the more stringent requirements
3. Indirect impact: At times, we have seen courts interpret existing national laws in line with the spirit of new EU directives, even before they are formally adopted locally
4. Reputational risk: If a company is not seen to be taking action, it could hurt the employer’s brand and relationship with its worker representatives—even before the laws officially kick in

Next Steps  

These developments underscore the increasingly fragmented approach to pay transparency reform across the EU. For employers, this divergence highlights the increased need for jurisdiction-specific compliance strategies. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to compliance will be difficult for most cross-border employers. 

Employers should be actively preparing for compliance obligations. Such active compliance may include:

1. Preparing an overarching compliance plan
2. Engaging both internal and external counsel in planning to utilise country-specific legal privilege
3. Fact-finding and gathering data
4. Reviewing and defining job architecture
5. Auditing current pay practices to identify areas of risk and potential gaps