Key takeaways
- Belgium missed the 7 June 2026 deadline to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive 2023/970) into national law and has formally requested six months of additional time from the European Commission.
- The European Commission has publicly indicated it does not intend to introduce a general postponement. Belgian employers should not assume that a delay in legislation means a delay in obligations.
- The Directive introduces four core requirements: pay transparency towards job applicants; individual pay information rights for employees; mandatory gender pay gap reporting for companies with 100 or more employees; and strengthened enforcement mechanisms, including a reversal of the burden of proof.
- Although no Belgian implementing legislation has yet been adopted, the Directive may already have indirect legal effect through the principle of equal pay for equal work, which enjoys horizontal direct effect under EU law.
- Employers are advised to act now: reviewing job classifications, developing transparent pay structures, mapping remuneration data, and preparing recruitment processes ahead of formal transposition.
I. The EU Pay Transparency Directive: What is it and what does it aim to achieve?
The Directive is one of the most significant developments in European employment law in recent years. It aims to strengthen the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men. The European legislator starts from the observation that a lack of transparency often prevents employees from identifying unjustified pay differences. The Directive therefore introduces a range of measures intended to make remuneration systems more transparent and to facilitate the detection and correction of gender-based pay disparities.
In summary, the following rules are foreseen by the Pay Transparency Directive:
Transparency for applicants
One of the most visible changes concerns the recruitment process. Employers will be required to provide applicants with information on the initial salary or salary range for the position either in job postings, before the interview process or, at the latest, before salary negotiations commence. Employers will also be prohibited from asking candidates about their current or previous remuneration.
Transparency for employees
The Directive grants employees a right to request information regarding their individual pay level and average pay levels, broken down by gender, for colleagues performing the same work or work of equal value.
Employers will also need to ensure that employees have access to the criteria used to determine pay, pay progression and career advancement. Pay structures must be based on objective and gender-neutral criteria.
Gender pay gap reporting
The Directive further introduces mandatory gender pay gap reporting obligations for larger employers. Companies with 250 or more employees must report annually, those with 100-249 employees must report every three years. Reports must include gender pay gap, variable pay components, and the proportion of men and women receiving them.
Where reporting reveals an unjustified gender pay gap of at least 5% within a category of workers and the gap is not remedied within a prescribed period, employers may be required to conduct a joint pay assessment together with employee representatives.
Increased enforcement and litigation
The Directive strengthens enforcement mechanisms. It introduces evidentiary rules that facilitate equal pay claims. Once an employee presents indications of discrimination, the burden falls on the employer to prove no breach occurred. Member States must also introduce effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, including fines, for non-compliance.
For further information about the Pay Transparency Directive, we refer to our newsletters of 24 May 2023 and 30 June 2025.
As a conclusion, it should be clear that the Directive is not just an administrative task or a reporting exercise for employers. It requires organisations to develop robust classifications of jobs, transparent pay frameworks and defensible remuneration policies.
II. Why Belgium has asked for more time
Unlike an EU Regulation, an EU Directive does not automatically apply. It generally requires implementation through national legislation before it becomes fully applicable in relations between private parties. As a result, the Pay Transparency Directive does not automatically impose all its obligations directly on Belgian employers merely because the transposition deadline has passed.
Belgium has failed to meet the 7 June 2026 transposition deadline. The federal government has formally requested that the European Commission refrain from initiating infringement proceedings for six months. In practice, Belgium has therefore requested a de facto extension of the implementation period. Belgium is not alone. A significant number of Member States did not meet the deadline.
According to public reports, the Belgian government has raised a number of concerns regarding the impact of the Directive, amongst others on the operational complexity of the reporting requirements and data protection and privacy considerations.
III. Is an extension likely?
At present, the prospects remain uncertain. The European Commission publicly reiterated in May 2026 that it does not intend to introduce a general postponement or suspension mechanism for the Directive. This suggests that the Commission is reluctant to reopen or delay implementation at European level. Moreover, some of the questions raised by Belgium, particularly regarding data protection compliance, may not necessarily justify delaying implementation. The Directive itself was adopted following an extensive legislative process during which data protection concerns were already considered at EU level. While practical questions remain regarding the handling of remuneration data, it is far from clear that a six-month postponement of implementation would be allowed. Employers should therefore not assume that a formal postponement will be granted, nor that the final Belgian legislation will substantially deviate from the Directive's core requirements.
IV. What should Belgian employers do in the meantime?
Employers are not required to comply with the new provisions of the Directive at this stage, as no Belgian implementing legislation has yet been adopted. Nevertheless, employers should remain cautious for several reasons.
As a general rule, EU directives do not have horizontal direct effect. In principle, an employee or job applicant cannot rely directly on the Directive against a private-sector employer to enforce the rights it grants. The position is, however, less straightforward in the case of the Pay Transparency Directive, which gives concrete expression to the pre-existing EU law principle of equal pay for equal work and work of equal value. That principle is enshrined in Article 157 TFEU and has long been recognised by the Court of Justice of the European Union as having horizontal direct effect.
It may therefore be argued that a failure to implement the Directive could undermine the effective protection of that fundamental right. While it remains uncertain whether courts would derive specific transparency obligations directly from Article 157 TFEU or related EU law principles in the absence of implementing legislation, employees may seek to invoke those principles in support of equal pay claims. Such arguments could ultimately be brought before the national courts and, where necessary, referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling. Until greater judicial clarity emerges, a degree of legal uncertainty is likely to remain.
Existing Belgian legislation remains fully applicable and must continue to be respected, including, for example, the current anti-discrimination laws and obligations to report on the gender pay gap.
While the legal deadline may have slipped, preparation should not. Employers should already be:
- reviewing job classifications and ensuring that positions performing work of equal value are identified consistently;
- developing transparent salary structures and documenting remuneration criteria;
- mapping remuneration data to prepare for future reporting obligations;
- assessing potential gender pay gaps before mandatory reporting begins;
- preparing recruitment processes for future transparency requirements;
- training HR and management teams on the forthcoming changes.
V. Conclusion: while the legislator may be late, employers would be ill-advised to wait
The expiry of the transposition deadline does not mean that Belgian employers can simply ignore the Pay Transparency Directive. While Belgium has requested six months of additional time, the direction of travel is clear. The core obligations of the Directive are unlikely to disappear, and the European Commission has so far shown little appetite for a postponement. For Belgian employers, the key message is therefore straightforward: organisations that postpone preparations until Belgian legislation is finally adopted may find themselves with insufficient time to establish the pay structures, data governance frameworks and job classification systems necessary for compliance.
Our Employment & Benefits team would be delighted to answer any question you may have in relation to the current Belgian legislation, the EU Pay Transparency Directive as well as to assist your company in preparing for its implementation.
Authors:
Leen Holvoet, Senior Associate at Liedekerke
