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Country guide · ItalyItaly's pay transparency law: Legislative Decree 96/2026
Italy is one of the first EU member states to transpose the Pay Transparency Directive. Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026 came into force on 7 June 2026, giving Italian employers a set of obligations that apply right now — from pay in job adverts to gender pay gap reporting and the 5% rule. This guide explains what changed and what to do, for HR, reward and legal teams.
This guide is informational and is not legal advice. It reflects publicly available analysis of Legislative Decree 96/2026; some implementing details depend on ministerial decrees still to be issued. Always confirm your obligations with qualified Italian counsel.
The law at a glance
Italy implemented Directive (EU) 2023/970 through Legislative Decree No. 96 of 7 May 2026 (Decreto Legislativo 7 maggio 2026, n. 96), published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 125 on 1 June 2026 and in force from 7 June 2026 — the directive's transposition deadline. The decree builds on Italy's existing equal-opportunity framework (the Equal Opportunities Code, Legislative Decree 198/2006, and the biennial gender-equality report introduced by Law 162/2021) rather than replacing it.
A distinctly Italian feature is that the rules are anchored to the national collective bargaining (CCNL) system: applying a collective agreement signed by the most representative unions supports a presumption that pay criteria are compliant. Several operational details — how data is collected and how the monitoring body works — are to be set by ministerial decrees expected within 180 days of entry into force.
Who is covered
The decree applies to all employers, public and private. The individual transparency obligations — pay in job adverts, the salary-history ban and the right to pay information — apply to every employer regardless of size, from 7 June 2026. The recurring gender pay gap reporting obligation is phased by headcount and applies to employers with 100 or more employees. Italy's pre-existing biennial gender-equality report (for employers with more than 50 employees, under Law 162/2021) continues to apply alongside the new rules.
What employers must do now (from 7 June 2026)
- Show pay in job adverts. Every vacancy must state the initial pay or pay range, set on objective and gender-neutral criteria, with a reference to the applicable CCNL.
- Stop asking about pay history. Employers — and recruiters or agencies acting for them — may not ask candidates about their current or previous pay, even indirectly.
- Use gender-neutral wording. Job adverts and job titles must be gender-neutral and non-discriminatory.
- Answer pay-information requests. Workers can request, and must receive in writing within two months, information on their own pay level and on average pay levels broken down by sex for workers doing the same work or work of equal value. The right can be exercised once a year.
- Tell workers about the right. Employers must inform all workers annually that they can request this information.
- Drop pay-secrecy clauses. Contract terms that stop workers disclosing their own pay are void.
- Make pay-setting criteria accessible. The criteria used to set pay and pay progression must be available; the pay-progression-criteria duty applies to employers with 50 or more employees.
Gender pay gap reporting
Employers with 100 or more employees must report gender pay gap data to a monitoring body at the Ministry of Labour. The data set includes the mean and median gender pay gap, the gap in variable or complementary pay, the proportion of each sex receiving variable pay, and the distribution of workers across pay quartiles.
| Employer size | Reporting frequency | First report due |
|---|---|---|
| 250 or more employees | Every year | 7 June 2027 |
| 150–249 employees | Every three years | 7 June 2027 |
| 100–149 employees | Every three years | 7 June 2031 |
| Fewer than 100 employees | No periodic reporting (individual rights still apply) | — |
The 5% rule and joint pay assessment
Where the data show an unjustified average pay gap of at least 5% in any category of workers, the employer must justify it on objective, gender-neutral criteria or correct it. If the gap is not justified or corrected within six months of the reporting date, the employer must conduct a joint pay assessment with worker representatives — analysing the causes, defining corrective measures, and examining pay on return from maternity, parental or care leave. Results are shared with workers, the monitoring body and the Labour Inspectorate, which (together with the equality body) may take part in remediation.
Enforcement and penalties
The decree does not create a standalone penalty regime; enforcement runs through Article 41 of the Equal Opportunities Code (Legislative Decree 198/2006). The consequences of non-compliance include administrative fines, possible exclusion from public procurement and loss of public financial or credit incentives following Labour Inspectorate findings. In pay-discrimination disputes the burden of proof shifts to the employer, who must justify any gap, and unions and equality associations — not only affected individuals — may bring claims. (Public sources disagree on the exact fine amounts, so we do not quote a specific figure here; confirm the current bands with Italian counsel.)
Key dates for employers
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7 June 2026 | Decree in force. Pay in job adverts, salary-history ban, gender-neutral wording, pay-information requests (2-month response), annual notice of the right. |
| ~Dec 2026 (within 180 days) | Ministerial decrees expected, setting data-collection methods and the monitoring body's rules. |
| 7 June 2027 | First gender pay gap report for employers with 250+ (annual) and 150–249 (every 3 years). |
| 7 June 2031 | First gender pay gap report for employers with 100–149 (every 3 years). |
How to prepare — and how Cleira helps
Whether your first report is due in 2027 or 2031, the work is the same each cycle: assemble clean workforce data, define categories of workers consistently, compute the required metrics, identify and explain any gaps at or above 5%, and produce defensible documentation.
Cleira automates that analysis. You can run a complete, decision-grade gender pay gap analysis free in your browser right now — mean and median gaps on base and variable pay, quartile distribution, bonus participation and automatic per-category 5% flagging — with no login and no data leaving your device. When you are ready to file, Professional adds the deeper adjusted analysis (controlling for role, seniority, age and location) and a filing-ready PDF and Excel report, with multi-year tracking.
Cleira automates that analysis. From 1 July 2026 you will be able to run a complete, decision-grade gender pay gap analysis free in your browser — mean and median gaps on base and variable pay, quartile distribution, bonus participation and automatic per-category 5% flagging — with no login and no data leaving your device. When you are ready to file, Professional adds the deeper adjusted analysis and a filing-ready PDF and Excel report. Get early access and we'll let you know the moment it's live.
Sources and official documentation
- Official text: Legislative Decree 96/2026, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 125 (1 June 2026).
- Littler — Italy Implements the EU Pay Transparency Directive: A Guide to the Final Decree
- PwC TLS — Pay transparency: key changes under Legislative Decree No. 96/2026
- DLA Piper — Italy approves the final text of the implementing legislation
Other countries with laws already in force: Slovakia · Lithuania · Malta · EU directive overview