Draft law transposing Directive (EU) 2023/970 – version of 4 June 2026
France is transposing Directive (EU) 2023/970, the EU’s pay transparency directive, which reinforces the principle of equal pay between women and men for the same work or work of equal value. The transposition deadline expired on 7 June 2026. France is implementing the directive through a draft law (projet de loi) that the Ministry of Labour circulated to the social partners on 4 June 2026, revising an earlier preliminary draft of 6 March 2026. The new version reshapes several points ; the ten most significant are set out below.
1. The number of index indicators is left to a decree. The earlier draft fixed the gender equality index at seven indicators. The new version no longer specifies a number, leaving the indicators and the pay elements they capture to be set by decree. The central indicator remains the pay gap between categories of employees performing the same work or work of equal value. The number and nature of the indicators could then change by decree, without further legislation.
2. Companies of 50 to 99 employees : a negotiation triggered only by unjustified gaps. Where the pay-gap indicator shows an average gap between women and men above a threshold (to be set by decree), within a category, the employer must open negotiations on workplace gender equality. Under the new draft, only gaps that are not justified by objective, sex-neutral criteria would count towards that threshold. The negotiations themselves are also more demanding : their objective is now to remedy the gap, not merely to reduce it.
3. Information on the pay-gap indicator : abusive requests may be set aside. In companies of at least 100 employees, employees, the works council (comité social et économique, CSE) and trade union representatives may ask for details and explanations relating to the pay-gap indicator. The draft makes clear that the employer need not act on abusive requests, in particular where these are excessive in number or repetitive or systematic in nature.
4. Pay level information : what employees can ask for, and when the employer may refuse. Each employee has a right to information on their own pay level and on average pay levels, broken down by sex, for their category. The employer could already refuse where the category was below a headcount threshold set by decree. The new draft adds a second, cumulative condition for refusal : that disclosure would be liable, directly or indirectly, to reveal the pay of an identifiable employee because the category contains too few people. The annual notice telling employees they may request this information may now be given by any means.
5. A staggered entry into force. The provisions above would enter into force on a date set by decree, at the latest one year after promulgation. Declaration of the category pay-gap indicator is, however, deferred : at the latest three years after promulgation for companies of 100 to 149 employees, and six years for those of 50 to 99. The March draft had set a single date of 1 June 2030 for all companies of 50 to 149 employees.
6. Recruitment : the employer must volunteer the initial salary range. Candidates must be given the initial salary range and the relevant collective agreement provisions used to set pay. The new version places an obligation on the employer to provide the information, rather than merely giving candidates the right to request it.
7. Work of equal value : a definition rewritten around objective, sex-neutral criteria. Besides adding soft skills and working conditions, the new draft recasts the definition of work of equal value around objective criteria that are not based on sex. Work is of equal value where it requires a comparable set of such criteria : professional knowledge (evidenced by a qualification, diploma or experience), abilities acquired through experience, soft skills, responsibilities, working conditions and physical or mental demands.
8. Categorisation of employees : employers may now choose a unilateral decision instead of a branch agreement. The categorisation of employees doing work of equal value is set by company-level agreement, and may also be provided for by a sector-level (branch) agreement. Where company-level negotiation fails, the employer may choose either to apply the branch agreement, where one exists, or to draw up the categorisation itself by unilateral decision lasting three years. This change is significant : under the draft, even where a branch agreement exists, the employer is no longer required to apply it and may choose the unilateral route. The March draft was more restrictive, allowing this only where no branch agreement applied. The six-month minimum period before a branch agreement took effect, provided for in March, has also gone.
9. Burden of proof : statistics and a hypothetical comparator. The draft broadens the evidence an employee may rely on to support a claim of unequal pay between women and men. Where no real comparator can be found, the candidate or employee may now rely on any other evidence, including statistics or a comparison with how an employee would be treated in a comparable situation. This opens the way to external and hypothetical comparators, in line with the directive.
10. Public procurement : a new ground for exclusion. Absent from the March draft, this measure is introduced by the new version. A public buyer may exclude from a procurement procedure (and a concession-granting authority may exclude from a concession contract) businesses sanctioned for certain breaches : failure to declare the indicators or an inaccurate declaration ; failure to file the collective agreement or action plan ; or failure to file the pay-gap report. The exclusion applies for one year from the sanction.
Penalties : certain criminal penalties are doubled (two years’imprisonment and a €7,500 fine instead of one year’s imprisonment and a €3,500 fine) where an offence is committed by the same employer against several individuals (e.g. reference in a job advertisement to the gender or family situation of the candidate sought).
