In the spring of 2025, an online consultation took place on the proposal. The consultation and advisory stage attracted 36 responses from parties including lawyers, employers’ and employees’ organisations, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) and the Council for the Judiciary.
Their input prompted further refinement of the legislative proposal. This is evident from the government’s legislation calendar, which published draft regulations with explanations that include the refinements – in principle, the legislative text will not be made public until the Council of State’s advice has been adopted.
Amendments based on consultation and advice
The key amendments added to the refined proposal and the Explanatory Memorandum are as follows:
- The term “pay structure” has been amended and replaced by “a job evaluation and classification system”.
- The definition of “employer” has also been changed. In principle, the proposal now aligns with contractual employer. The legislative text no longer refers to the term “enterprise” within the meaning of the Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden).
- The requirement that the works council must confirm the accuracy of the information provided under the reporting obligation has been removed from the legislative proposal.
- The proposal includes measures to increase transparency before commencement of employment. It clarifies that there is no obligation to include the salary in the job vacancy notice. Employers must at least provide information about the pay margin before the pay negotiations.
- Regarding the right to information, the proposal clarifies that when providing information on average pay levels for categories of workers, employers may, as much as possible, use data that must be reported.
- It also clarifies that the obligation to use personal data solely for applying the principle of equal pay applies to everyone who has access to the personal data.
- Additionally, a few changes were made regarding the position of supplied workers in the context of pay reporting. The principle that supplied workers must be included in the host company’s reports has not changed, only the manner of inclusion. If there are any supplied workers, the report must consist of two parts: one about the host company’s own workers and one about the supplied workers. The host company must base the section on supplied workers on the terms of employment shared with the supplier under the general information requirement of the Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act (Wet allocatie arbeidskrachten door intermediairs). The applied categories of workers performing equal work or work of equal value must be the same in both sections.
Entry into force
The Council of State’s advice procedure takes two to three months on average. After that, the legislative proposal will need to be approved by the Dutch House of Representatives and the Dutch Senate.
The Directive provides that the Member States must implement it in national legislation by 7 June 2026. However, in September 2025, the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment informed the Dutch House of Representatives by letter that the proposed timeframe for timely implementation was not feasible. The Minister indicated at the time that the target date for entry into force in the Netherlands was 1 January 2027. In response, the European Commission stated in December 2025 that it expects all Member States to transpose the Directive by the June 2026 deadline. The Minister did not address this response by the European Commission in the amended Explanatory Memorandum for the Council of State.