Directive (EU) 2023/970
For HR teams hiring in the EU working out what the directive expects in job ads and pay communications. This page covers what you need to know and ways to avoid running into issues.
What we've seen reported
The EU Pay Transparency Directive, Directive (EU) 2023/970, sets out pay information for job applicants and workers, including pay ranges before interview, no questions on salary history and gender-neutral job ads, according to its text.1
Last updated October 2026 · General information only, not legal advice. Sources.
What the rules cover
These are the kinds of pay information the EU Pay Transparency Directive, Directive (EU) 2023/970, describes for recruitment and pay communications, according to its text, and who each applies to.1
| Requirement | Where it applies |
|---|---|
| Starting pay or its range | Employers: give applicants the initial pay or its range, for example in the job ad or before the interview. |
| Collective agreement terms | Where relevant, the collective agreement provisions that apply to the role, alongside the pay information. |
| Salary history questions | Employers: no questions about pay history in current or previous jobs. |
| Job ads and job titles | Gender-neutral vacancy notices and job titles, and non-discriminatory recruitment. |
| Pay-setting and progression criteria | Made easily accessible to workers; member states may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the progression part. |
| Worker requests for pay information | Answered within two months, covering their own pay and average pay by sex for the same or equal work. |
| Annual reminder | Employers: tell all workers each year about their right to request pay information. |
| Pay secrecy terms | Workers are not prevented from disclosing their pay for the purpose of equal pay. |
Where it goes wrong
One approved set of product information ends up in many channels, markets and languages. Along the way it gets shortened, translated and reworded, and some versions end up without the warnings or details these rules require.
Heldan senior analyst role: pay range €58,000 to €66,000, gender-neutral title, no salary history question
How Arbitr helps
Manually review everything? Or do what modern teams do and use AI to check that what you publish matches what you approved.
FAQ
Usually in the copies made after the first ad. The EU Pay Transparency Directive describes pay information reaching applicants in the vacancy notice, before the interview or otherwise,1 and we usually find gaps in:
Treat each role's approved range as the source and every ad as a version of it. Ranges change with budgets and grades, and old figures, or none at all, tend to survive on reposts and agency boards. Our HR teams page shows how teams check each published version against what was approved.
Keep the approved pay range and the grade behind it, the gender-neutral job title, the application form version, who approved each, and every board, agency and language where the ad ran. When a worker or applicant asks, you can show what was published and when.
How it applies to a specific job ad is a question for your legal adviser. Where that job ad appears across your markets and languages is a question Arbitr answers.
More than reward and HR. Talent acquisition, recruiting agencies, employer brand and the managers who write role descriptions all publish pay information. Teams hiring across Europe can follow related rules from our EU regulations hub, and teams also hiring in the United States will find rules there on our US regulations hub.
Through each member state's national law. The Directive entered into force in June 2023 and gave member states until June 7, 2026 to bring their laws into force, according to its text, with the first pay gap reports due by June 7, 2027.1
Article 5 says employers do not ask applicants about their pay history in their current or previous jobs, according to its text.1 The national laws that transpose it set out how this works in each country, so the detail can differ.
You update the approved version once. Arbitr checks what's already live against it and shows you every version still using the old wording.
