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Good practice Imported

Legislative Decree No. 96/2026 — Italy's Pay Transparency Directive Transposition

Italy · Rome · See the Italy profile · See the Rome profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 74% 44/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Italy became one of the first EU states to fully transpose the Pay Transparency Directive, banning salary-history questions, mandating pay ranges in job ads, and phasing in gender pay-gap reporting for employers with 100+ staff from 2027.

5.3 %
Italy's unadjusted gender pay gap (2024)
11.1 %
EU average unadjusted gender pay gap (2024)
Legislative Decree No. 96/2026 — Italy's Pay Transparency Directive Transposition

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali (Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies)
Period
May 2026 – present
Keywords
employment law, gender pay equity, public policy

Context

Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026, published in Italy's Official Gazette 1 June 2026 and in force from 7 June 2026, transposes Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency.

Activities

It applies to all employment contracts and bars employers -- directly or through recruiters -- from asking candidates about current or past pay. Job postings must state the initial pay or range together with the applicable national collective bargaining agreement. Employers with 50+ staff must disclose pay-progression criteria.

Results

Gender pay-gap reporting phases in by size: employers with 250+ staff report annually from June 2027; 150-249 staff every three years from June 2027; 100-149 staff every three years from June 2031. A pay gap of 5%+ in any category requires justification or a joint pay assessment with worker representatives after six months.

Conclusions

Italy's own unadjusted gender pay gap stood at 5.3% in 2024 -- below the EU average of 11.1% -- though analysts caution this partly reflects Italy's comparatively low female labour-force participation rather than genuine pay equity.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Compliance cost borne by employers; no direct public spending programme.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — In force from 7 June 2026; first gender pay-gap reports due June 2027.
Staffing & skills
employer HR/compliance teams, worker representatives for joint pay assessments

Conditions for success

  • phased reporting thresholds by employer size
  • a defined justification/remediation process for gaps of 5%+

Common failure modes

  • no outcome data possible yet; first reports not due until June 2027

Where it fits

Governance type
national law transposing an EU directive
Scale
national
Income level
high income (EU member)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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Attachments

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