Joint statement ahead of the Pay Transparency Directive transposition deadline
Position paper - Jobs & Skills
5 June 2026
As the transposition deadline of the Pay Transparency Directive approaches on 7 June 2026, our organisations reaffirm their strong commitment to the principle of equal pay, which is a fundamental principle of the EU.
Employers across sectors and enterprises of all sizes are committed to promoting gender equality, equal opportunities and fair remuneration practices. They do this as part of well-functioning social dialogue and collective bargaining systems, which provide robust mechanisms for determining and reviewing pay in a transparent and structured manner. The Pay Transparency Directive should interact coherently with these existing mechanisms, not disrupt them.
The transposition process has revealed significant legal, technical and operational challenges. These challenges are experienced across a large majority of Member States and reflect the scale and complexity of integrating the new requirements of the Directive into diverse national frameworks while ensuring proportionality and legal certainty. Furthermore, practical implementation for employers with less than 250 employees could prove even more difficult, as support in the form of technical assistance and training is still not available in many Member States.
The fact that so many Member States are expected to face delays in completing the transposition of the Pay Transparency Directive confirms the need for further reflection on how to ensure effective transposition and implementation across the European Union.
Having put forward targeted and practical proposals such as introducing a presumption of compliance for collective agreements in the Directive, we call on the European institutions to continue working with Member States and social partners to provide the necessary technical clarifications and targeted adjustments to the Pay Transparency Directive in order to facilitate its transposition and implementation.
To ensure that the Directive achieves its intended objectives in an effective and coherent manner, and to avoid legal uncertainty in the initial phase of application, we call for a temporary “stop-the-clock” mechanism.
Our organisations remain fully committed to the principle of equal pay. However, the current legal uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the directive creates significant challenges for our members and calls for urgent, workable solutions to address their concerns.