Pay transparency directive: New draft bill presented to the French Council of Ministers

On 10 September 2026, a new draft bill relating to the transposition into French labour law of the EU Pay Transparency Directive was presented to the French Council of Ministers and submitted to the Senate.

 

After more than one year of discussion with the trade unions and employer organisations, the draft bill transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive into French labour law was presented to the French cabinet and transferred to Parliament.

Although the Government has indicated that it wishes the bill to be presented to a vote by the end of 2026, it is uncertain whether it will indeed be examined before the next French presidential election, expected in 2027. This will in part depend on whether the EU will initiate infringement proceedings against Member States that have not transposed the Directive by its 7 June 2026 deadline.

The draft bill provides for some “gold-plating” (i.e. where the law goes further than the Directive) since France had already adopted a pay gap reporting system since 2020. For this reason, the EU Directive’s reporting obligation is expected to apply to all companies with 50 or more employees (and not the 100-staff threshold set by the Directive). For companies with 50 to 99 employees, the draft bill allows up to six years for the reporting of the pay‑gap indicator by job category.

It also provides for a salary range to be included in job advertisements; if there is no advertisement, the information must be provided before or during the interview.

The pay gap % which will trigger a mandatory remediation plan as well as the level of sanctions is not set out in the bill which indicates that this will be set by decree which creates further uncertainty.

 

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel

Even if the adoption date of this new law is uncertain, it is recommended to start updating your recruitment process and also identify any existing pay gap issues.