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Pay transparency in Belgium

Partly in force Last verified 7 August 2026 High confidence

  • Pay information requests In force

    Own individual pay level and sex-disaggregated average pay levels for workers performing the same work or work of equal value (Flemish public-sector scope).

  • Time to respond 2 months

    Every request starts a clock. Answering one needs pay structures and equal-value groupings that already exist.

  • Salary history questions are banned

    Applicants learn the pay range before the interview, and employers may not ask what they earn today.

Belgium does not yet have one nationwide law implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Instead, its transposition is partly in force and limited to regional and subnational measures, while a broad federal transposition covering private-sector employers across the country is still incomplete.

Two regional moves are already law. The Flemish Decree on pay transparency sets core obligations for covered public-sector and education bodies, starting 7 June 2026. The French Community adopted its own decree on 16 May 2024, which wrote the Directive directly into its anti-discrimination framework.

For most private employers in Belgium, the practical picture is still incomplete: watch for federal transposition and any further regional or community measures, since that is what will determine when broader private-sector duties take effect.

The measure

Law or measure
Regional public-sector measures, including the Flemish Decree on pay transparency and the French Community decree of 16 May 2024; federal implementation remains incomplete
Core obligations start
7 Jun 2026 (Flemish public-sector decree)
Who is covered
Regional/subnational measures are in force within Flemish public-sector/education and French Community competence scopes; broad federal private-sector obligations remain pending.

What the law requires

1 further dimension is still being verified against official sources.

How Belgium differs from the Directive

Belgium has multiple subnational measures: the French Community decree of 16 May 2024 expressly inserted Directive 2023/970 into its anti-discrimination framework, and the Flemish 2026 decree implements detailed transparency duties for covered public-sector and education bodies. Federal private-sector transposition remains incomplete.

What this means for employers

What applies to you depends heavily on where you sit in Belgium. If your organisation falls within the Flemish public-sector or education scope, or within French Community competence, transparency duties are already active. If you are a private-sector employer outside those scopes, the core national obligations are not yet defined, and you are in a monitoring phase rather than a compliance one.

  • Map your Belgian footprint against the Flemish public-sector/education scope and French Community competence, separately from any purely private-sector operations.
  • If covered by the Flemish decree, be ready to answer individual pay information requests, covering both the employee’s own pay level and sex-disaggregated averages for equal work, within two months.
  • Stop asking about salary history for roles within the Flemish public-sector scope; this is already banned there.
  • Track headcount against the 100-employee reporting threshold under the Flemish decree, and note the staggered first reporting dates: by 7 June 2027 for entities with 250 or more workers, and by 7 June 2031 for those with 100 to 149.
  • Know the joint pay assessment trigger: a 5% pay gap combined with no objective justification and no fix within six months.
  • Keep monitoring federal transposition, since that is what will eventually set the rules for private-sector employers nationwide.

Enforcement and open questions

Competent authority
Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue
Equality body
Institute for the Equality of Women and Men
What could still change
Subnational implementation is in force, but no complete nationwide federal private-sector transposition measure has been validated.

Common questions

Is the EU Pay Transparency Directive already law in Belgium?

Only partly. Regional measures, the Flemish public-sector decree and the French Community decree of 16 May 2024, are in force within their own scopes. A nationwide federal transposition covering private-sector employers generally has not yet been completed.

Do private employers in Belgium have to comply with pay transparency rules now?

Only if they fall within the Flemish public-sector/education scope or French Community competence, where obligations are already in force. Broader private-sector obligations at federal level are not yet defined, so most private employers are currently in a monitoring position.

When do Belgian reporting obligations start?

Under the Flemish decree, mandatory reporting applies from 100 employees upward. Covered entities with 250 or more workers must file their first report by 7 June 2027, and those with 100 to 149 workers by 7 June 2031.

Can employers in Belgium ask candidates about their salary history?

Within the Flemish public-sector scope, no: covered employers are already banned from asking applicants about current or previous pay. There is no confirmed rule yet for employers outside that scope.

What triggers a joint pay assessment in Belgium?

A pay gap of 5% or more, combined with a lack of objective justification for it and a failure to remedy the gap within six months, triggers the requirement in force under the current regional measure.

Who enforces pay transparency rules in Belgium?

The Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue is the competent authority, and the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men is the designated equality body.

Author

Julius Aho

Co-founder, CTO

Julius Aho is the co-founder and CTO of Evenpay. At Evenpay he is responsible for product, engineering and AI, building the tools that make fair pay the default.