On 26 March 2025, the government published a draft bill to implement the European Pay Transparency Directive (EU 2023/970). The Directive, which has been in force since 6 June 2023, must be transposed into national legislation by all member states. Its aim is to strengthen equal pay between men and women by providing greater insight into pay structures and pay differences.

The Directive contains several obligations for employers:

  1. Objective gender-neutral and transparent pay structures;
  2. Pre-employment transparency: Employers disclose the initial pay (range) in job vacancies and are prohibited from asking applicants about salary history. Vacancy texts and job titles are gender-neutral;
  3. During employment pay transparency: Employees have the right to request information and have easy access to the objective and gender-neutral criteria that are used to determine pay levels and progression.
  4. Comply with reporting and assessment obligations on pay gaps and any corrective measures, if the organization contains 100 or more employees
  5. Representation of employees. In the Dutch context, this responsibility lies primarily with the Works Council which must be actively involved in designing the pay policies and carrying out transparency and reporting obligations.  

The initial plan was to send the proposal to the House of Representatives in the third quarter of 2025 and to implement the pay transparency law from 7 June 2026. However, on 15 September 2025, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment announced that this timeline was not achievable. One of the main reasons for this is that more time is needed to shape national regulations and their implementation in such way that employers can fulfill their obligations effectively and with as little administrative burden as possible. Implementation has therefore been postponed to 1 January 2027.

As a result, the first reporting obligation for companies with more than 150 employees will also shift to the reporting year 2027 instead of 2026. The postponement is intended to give employers sufficient time to comply properly and efficiently with the new requirements. The announcement has led to questions in the European Parliament addressed to the European Commission, including about the consequences of the Dutch delay and whether the Commission plans to amend the directive to reduce administrative burdens for employers. These questions remain unanswered for now.

For Dutch employers, this means that uncertainty remains regarding the potential implications of the delay. What is clear, however, is that the directive itself is already in force, even though national legislation has not yet been amended. Courts are therefore likely to interpret existing Dutch rules in line with the European directive, meaning the new standards may already have practical effect.