Malta's pay transparency law: the Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations 2026
Malta was the fourth EU member state to implement the Pay Transparency Directive. The Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026 (Legal Notice 173 of 2026) were published on 5 June 2026 and came into force immediately, with no transitional period. This guide explains what Maltese employers must do.
This guide is informational and is not legal advice. Malta first partially transposed the directive via Legal Notice 112 of 2025, which had not been repealed at the time of writing, so some overlap remains. Always confirm your obligations with qualified Maltese counsel.
The law at a glance
Malta implemented Directive (EU) 2023/970 through the Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026, issued as Legal Notice 173 of 2026 and published in the Government Gazette on 5 June 2026. The Regulations entered into force immediately on publication. Malta had already partially transposed the directive in 2025 (Legal Notice 112 of 2025, covering applicant pay-range disclosure and the right to request pay information); how the 2025 and 2026 instruments are reconciled remains to be settled.
Who is covered
The Regulations apply to all employers, public and private, regardless of size, with obligations tiered by headcount. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from formal pay-progression policies; employers with 25 or more must document their pay criteria internally; and gender pay gap reporting applies to employers with 100 or more employees.
What employers must do
- Disclose pay to applicants. Applicants have the right to receive the initial pay or pay range before the recruitment process concludes.
- Stop asking about pay history. Employers are expressly prohibited from requesting information about an applicant's pay history.
- Use objective, gender-neutral criteria. Pay and pay progression must rest on objective, gender-neutral criteria such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
- Answer pay-information requests. Workers may request, in writing, their individual pay level and the average pay levels broken down by sex for workers doing the same work or work of equal value, and must receive a written response within a set timeframe (two months under Malta's earlier 2025 regulations).
- Drop pay-secrecy clauses. Workers are free to discuss their remuneration.
Gender pay gap reporting
Employers with 100 or more employees must produce a pay gap report covering the gender pay gap, the median pay gap, gaps in variable or supplementary components including bonuses, and the distribution of male and female employees across quartile pay bands.
| Employer size | Reporting frequency | First report |
|---|---|---|
| 250 or more employees | Every year | commencing 7 June 2027 |
| 150–249 employees | Every three years | commencing 7 June 2027 |
| 100–149 employees | Every three years | commencing 7 June 2031 |
| Fewer than 100 employees | No periodic reporting (individual rights still apply) | — |
The 5% rule and joint pay assessment
Where a pay gap report reveals a difference of at least 5% in any category of workers that cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria and is not remedied within six months of the report, the employer must conduct a joint pay assessment in cooperation with employee representatives.
The "single source" rule
Malta's Regulations spell out who counts as a single pay-setting source for comparison. In the public sector, all ministries and government departments are treated as one source (so cross-ministry comparisons are possible); in the private sector, separate undertakings are a single source only where they are controlled by the same persons and carry out essentially similar economic activity. Where disclosure could identify an individual, access is restricted to workers' representatives and the competent authorities (a GDPR safeguard).
Enforcement and penalties
A standard breach of the Regulations carries a fine of €2,500–€5,000. A breach involving gender or intersectional discrimination (sex combined with another protected ground) carries a fine of €5,000–€7,000. Affected workers can claim full back pay, related bonuses and compensation for damages — including non-material damage and lost opportunities — before the Industrial Tribunal, with claims to be brought within three years of becoming aware of the breach. Criminal sanctions are possible on conviction, and the burden of proof shifts to the employer where transparency obligations have not been met.
Key dates for employers
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 5 June 2026 | Legal Notice 173 of 2026 in force (immediately). Recruitment rules, salary-history ban, right to pay information, reversed burden of proof. |
| 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
With the Regulations in force immediately and first reports due in 2027, Maltese employers above the threshold need a repeatable way to assemble clean workforce data, define worker categories consistently, compute the required metrics, identify and explain any gaps at or above 5%, and document the result.
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 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. Get early access and we'll let you know the moment it's live.
Sources and official documentation
- Official text: Legal Notice 173 of 2026 — Equal Pay (Transparency and Reporting) Regulations, 2026 (legislation.mt).
- Ius Laboris / Ganado Advocates — Malta implements the Pay Transparency Directive
- Mamo TCV — The new Equal Pay Regulations 2026
- Mifsud & Mifsud — Pay Transparency Directive transposed into Maltese law
Other countries with laws already in force: Italy · Slovakia · Lithuania · EU directive overview