Italy has taken a formal step toward transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, but not by finalizing a fully operational rulebook.
On Feb. 5, 2026, Italy’s Council of Ministers approved a draft legislative decree in preliminary examination. The draft was submitted to Parliament with a deadline of March 18, 2026 to provide an opinion, after which it will return to the Council of Ministers for final adoption.
Importantly, the draft legislative decree consists of 16 articles that establish a framework, with operational details expected to follow through implementing decrees and ministerial circulars.
In February 2024, Italy adopted an enabling act (Law No. 15/2024), authorizing the government to transpose the Directive and setting guiding principles for implementation. Those principles emphasized:
- Full alignment with the Directive and its recitals, while respecting the autonomy of social partners;
- Clear, operational requirements developed with trade union involvement; and
- Expanded transparency and automation, leveraging existing administrative data where possible.
The draft legislation stayed mostly true to those guiding principles. Below we outline a few key areas where Italy plans to differ or add clarification to the Directive’s minimum requirements.
A Different Starting Point For “Equal Work” And Worker Categories
Collective Bargaining Agreements As The Default Reference
One of the most significant clarifications in Italy’s draft concerns how equal work and work of equal value are to be assessed.
Rather than placing primary reliance on employer-designed job evaluation systems, the draft identifies classification under applicable collective bargaining agreements (CCNLs) as the default reference tool for determining equal work and work of equal value.
This represents a different starting point from how many employers are approaching implementation in other EU Member States, where internal job architecture and evaluation frameworks often take precedence.
Employer Frameworks Are Not Excluded — But Secondary
The draft does not prohibit employers from using internal professional classification systems, provided they are objective and gender neutral. Those systems are framed as permitted, but not presumed to comply. These systems may specify and supplement the provisions of a CCNL in large companies, but cannot adversely affect the provisions of law or the applicable CCNL.
Quick Take: Employers should expect that worker grouping and equal-value assessments may look different, and be easier to administer, in Italy than in other EU jurisdictions.
Pay Transparency Before Employment Gets More Specific
Mandatory Pay Disclosure In Job Postings
Article 5 of Italy’s draft confirms and operationalizes pay transparency obligations at the hiring stage.
Employers must disclose:
- The initial salary or remuneration amount (or range); and
- The relevant provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
This information must be communicated directly in job postings and vacancy announcements, extending existing Italian disclosure rules into the recruitment phase.
Key Clarification: Italy’s draft makes clear that pay disclosure in job postings is not optional or deferred; it is embedded directly into how job opportunities are advertised.
Salary History Questions Prohibited
Consistent with the Directive, employers may not request information about an applicant’s prior pay history, and hiring decisions must rely on gender-neutral criteria.
Pay Structure Transparency, Reporting, And Information Rights
Pay Progression Criteria: A Threshold-Based Exception
In regard to Articles 4 and 6 of the Directive, Italy introduces a clarification on scope.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the obligation to provide information on pay progression criteria, while larger employers must comply.
The obligation to provide pay criteria, pay level criteria, and pay progression criteria is deemed fulfilled by referring to the applicable criteria in a CCNL.
Right To Information: Confirmed Timeline, Flexible Delivery
Italy confirms a two-month deadline for responding to employee Right to Information (Article 7) requests.
For employers with 100 or more employees, the draft also introduces flexibility: obligations may be met through proactive publication (for example, via an internal intranet accessible to employees), rather than responding to each request individually.
Pay Gap Reporting And Aggregation
Italy’s draft largely aligns with the Directive on reporting obligations and thresholds, including first reporting deadlines of:
- June 7, 2027 for employers with 150 or more employees; and
- June 7, 2031 for employers with 100–149 employees.
A notable clarification is the option to aggregate gender pay gap reporting at the national level, if that method provides a more reliable representation of the data (i.e. there’s a unified group pay policy). Additional detail is expected in subsequent decrees.
The 5% Trigger And Joint Pay Assessments
Italy’s draft aligns with the Directive’s joint pay assessment framework, including its trigger: a pay gap of 5% or more for any category of worker, unjustified and unremediated within 6 months of reporting.
Additional Clarifications Employers Should Note
- Definition of “Pay Level”: Italy has added in an exclusion from the “pay level” calculation for individual economic benefits recognized on a personal, discretionary, or temporary basis, which are not generalized within the same category of workers and are based on individual criteria, such as individual superminimums, one-off bonuses, and ad personal allowances.
- Workers’ Representatives: Trade unions are identified as the relevant workers’ representatives for consultation and joint pay assessments.
- Data Protection Limits: Italy adds a safeguard limiting disclosures where information would reveal the actual pay of identifiable individual workers.
- Enforcement And Sanctions: Legal action and administrative fines are aligned with Italy’s existing equal treatment enforcement regime, including fines ranging from EUR 250 to EUR 1,500.
What To Watch Next
Italy’s draft legislative decree establishes the legal framework — but many practical compliance questions will be answered through:
- Implementing decrees on job evaluation and reporting mechanics;
- Ministerial circulars clarifying employer obligations; and
- Parliamentary review before final adoption by the Council of Ministers.
We will continue to monitor developments and update this analysis as additional guidance is issued.
How Trusaic Can Help
At Trusaic, we provide employers across the EU with solutions to comply confidently with the directive.
Our Complete EU Pay Transparency Solution enables compliant pay systems, ensures gender-neutral job evaluations, and automates complex reporting obligations to keep you one step ahead of EU pay transparency enforcement.
- PayParity® analyzes your rewards data (compensation/benefits in kind) and quickly identifies any unjustified inequities.. It enables you to easily comply with Article 7 (right to information) and Article 6 requirements (pay setting and progression policy).
- Our Remediation Optimization Spend Agent (R.O.S.A.) works as PayParity’s AI remediation partner to find the most cost-effective way to close nominal pay gaps to ensure compliance.
- Salary Range Finder ensures equitable pay at the point of hire to prevent any increases in pay gap and enables you to easily comply with the Directive’s salary range disclosure and salary history ban requirements.
- Pay Decisions: Generate fair, competitive offers instantly from Workday.
- Regulatory Pay Transparency Reporting™ captures your pay equity findings and generates compliant, one-click reports across all EU jurisdictions.
- Our Pay Transparency Agent answers all your pay transparency reporting questions instantly.
- Our Communications Agent crafts perfect contextual narratives in any EU language to support your annual pay reports.
Trusaic is GDPR compliant and can assist any organization in any EU state in meeting its obligations under both the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the EU Pay Transparency Directive.
Visit our always updated Member State Transposition Monitor to stay on top of the latest EU Pay Transparency Directive developments.
