EU Directive 2023/970 · first reporting is calculated on 2026 data
Pay transparency is here. Italy got there first.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive took effect on 7 June 2026: salary ranges in job postings, no questions about salary history, gender-neutral pay structures, information rights for workers. Italy was one of only four Member States fully compliant on day one, so we already work under the regime the rest of Europe is now adopting.
The clock that matters
Reporting lands in 2027, on the pay data you are building now.
By 7 June 2027, employers with 250 or more employees must publish their gender pay gap calculated on 2026 figures. Where a gap within a category of workers exceeds 5% and cannot be objectively justified, a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives follows. Fixing structures after the numbers are public is the expensive way to do it.
Job architecture & pay structures
Role mapping, work-of-equal-value criteria and gender-neutral pay bands that stand up to the directive's tests, built with your HR and compensation teams.
Manager and HR training
Recruiting without salary history questions, publishing ranges, answering pay information requests, having pay conversations. The rules only work if line managers apply them.
2027 reporting readiness
A dry-run gap analysis on your 2026 data before it becomes public, category by category, with remediation options where the 5% threshold is at risk.
Why an Italian partner
We are not preparing for this regime. We work in it.
Italy transposed the directive on time, one of only four Member States to do so, and Italian companies have run gender equality certification (UNI/PdR 125) with pay gap analysis since 2022. That is the experience we bring to groups whose other EU countries are still catching up.
If you also operate in the United States: 17 states plus Washington D.C. already have pay transparency laws. The job architecture work you do for the EU directive is the same foundation you need there.
Directive (EU) 2023/970
Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, enforced through pay transparency. Transposition deadline: 7 June 2026. First reporting: 7 June 2027 for employers with 250+ employees, on 2026 data.
Read it on EUR-LexWould your 2026 numbers pass the 5% test?
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