Transposition of the EU Pay Transparency Directive, get ready!

1. A major reform on pay transparency

The French government is preparing to transpose EU Directive on pay transparency through a draft law in the autumn, following consultations with social partners.

Among the key measures being considered:

• Including a salary range in job offers;
• Prohibiting questions to candidates about their current remuneration;
• Including applicable collective bargaining agreement provisions in job offers;
• Providing employees with annual written information about their right to request details on pay levels within the company (with a two-month response deadline);
• Administrative sanctions for non-compliance with these obligations.

2. A new gender equality index by 2027: Complete overhaul

The current gender equality index will be completely overhauled due to its inefficiency.

The new index, aligned with the directive’s requirements, will be based on 7 harmonized indicators at the EU level:

1. The average pay gap between women and men;
2. The pay gap in variable or supplementary components;
3. The median pay gap between women and men;
4. The median gap in variable or supplementary components;
5. The proportion of women and men benefiting from variable or supplementary components;
6. The distribution of women/men by pay quartile;
7. The pay gap by worker categories, broken down by base salary and variable components.

The first six indicators will be automatically calculated via the nominative social declaration (“DSN” or “Déclaration sociale nominative).

The seventh indicator will be manually reported annually for companies with more than 250 employees, or every three years for those with 50 to 250 employees starting in 2030. This indicator is expected to raise many practical questions.

This index will continue to apply to companies with at least 50 employees, even though the directive sets the threshold at 100.

Back-to-work checklist:

• Conducting an audit of current pay practices;
• Updating recruitment procedures;
• Gradually integrating the new indicators into HR tools;
• Engaging in early consultations with employee representatives.

We invite you to join us at Simmons & Simmons for a breakfast debate on 14 October 2025 with our payroll specialist partner, Guillaume Campistron, and our Employment lawyers, Julia Gori and Claire Le Touzé.