Recap

On 26 March 2025, the Dutch government published a draft legislative proposal to implement the European Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 (the Directive). The Directive entered into force on 6 June 2023 and must be implemented by the European member states into their national laws, regulations, and administrative provisions by 7 June 2026.

The primary objective of the Directive is to promote equal pay between men and women by introducing concrete measures to increase pay transparency. Key employer obligations include:

  • establishing objective pay structures;
  • various transparency obligations (pre-employment and during employment); and
  • pay reporting and pay evaluation obligations for employers with 100 employees or more.

Employee representative bodies play an important role in the Directive. Several provisions require the active involvement of employee representatives in shaping company-level policies and decisions. In the Dutch implementation proposal, this responsibility is primarily assigned to the works council, which is mandatory for companies with 50 or more employees.

For more information about the Directive and the Dutch implementation proposal, we refer to our previous blogs from March 2024 and April 2025.

Status of the Dutch implementation

The legislative proposal was open for internet consultation from 26 March 2025 until 7 May 2025. Many interested parties provided their view on the legislative proposal.

Originally, the legislative proposal was expected to be submitted to the Dutch House of Representatives in the third quarter of 2025, with an expected entry into force date on 7 June 2026. However, on 15 September 2025, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment informed the States General that the initial timeline for the timely implementation of the Directive appears to be unfeasible. As such, the Dutch implementation date of the Directive is postponed to 1 January 2027. The reporting obligation for companies with more than 150 employees is thereby also postponed – reporting will not be required for the year 2026, but will first apply for the year 2027. The minister indicated that additional time is needed to ensure employers can meet their obligations effectively and minimize administrative burden.

The announcement of the postponement of the Dutch implementation has prompted questions from the European Parliament to the European Commission, including:

  • Questions on the Commission’s awareness of the announced postponement of the Dutch implementation and what actions the Commission intends to take in response hereto.
  • Priority questions regarding, amongst other things, the Commission’s view on the announced postponement of the Dutch implementation, and whether the Commission plans to revise the Director to mitigate administrative burden for employers.

These questions have not yet been answered.

What does this mean for employers?

Since the questions of the European Parliament have not yet been answered, it remains unclear if, and if so, what consequences the postponement of the Dutch implementation will have for Dutch employers.  

In any event, the Directive will already become effective while Dutch laws have not been amended yet. It is important to consider that despite the postponement, Dutch courts will in principle interpret existing law in accordance with the Directive’s principles.

Although the implementation date has been postponed, we recommend employers to make use of the extra time and already start preparations for the implementation of the Directive.

Next steps

We will continue to monitor developments closely and provide updates as soon as answers from the European Commission and additional legislative guidance become available.

Should you have any questions following this article, please do not hesitate to contact us.