Italy has transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) into national law through Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026 (decreto legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96) on equal pay for women and men for the same work or work of equal value through pay transparency.
A distinctive feature of the Italian approach is that national collective bargaining agreements (CCNL) are the primary reference for classifying workers and determining what counts as "work of equal value".
When it takes effect
The Decree was published in the Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 125) on 1 June 2026 and enters into force on 7 June 2026.
Transition period
Italy did not provide a general grace period. The core obligations - pay transparency at the recruitment stage and the employee right to information - apply from 7 June 2026.
Main obligations:
Recruitment transparency (from 7 June 2026): employers must state the initial pay level or pay range in job advertisements, and may not ask candidates about their pay history.
Right to information (from 7 June 2026): employees can request their own pay level, the criteria used to set and progress pay, and the average pay levels broken down by sex for their category of worker. The request can be made once every 12 months, with a written reply due within two months.
Gender pay-gap reporting (employers with 100+ employees): the report covers the mean and median gap, variable or complementary pay components, the share of women and men in each pay quartile, and the gap by category of worker. First reports are staggered by size:
250+ employees: first report by 7 June 2027, then annually.
150-249 employees: first report by 7 June 2027, then every three years.
100-149 employees: first report by 7 June 2031, then every three years.
Joint pay assessment: where the mean pay gap in any category of worker is 5% or more and the employer has not justified it on objective, gender-neutral factors or corrected it within six months, a joint pay assessment must be carried out together with the workers' representatives.
Where to find the law
Full text (Normattiva, official consolidated database): https://www.normattiva.it/eli/id/2026/06/01/26G00112/ORIGINAL
Official publication (Gazzetta Ufficiale, G.U. No. 125 of 1 June 2026): https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/atto/vediMenuHTML?atto.dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=2026-06-01&atto.codiceRedazionale=26G00112&tipoSerie=serie_generale&tipoVigenza=originario