Pay transparency in Bulgaria
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Pay information requests Proposed
Own remuneration plus sex-disaggregated average remuneration for workers doing the same work or work of equal value; where disclosure risks identifying another worker's individual pay, information is routed via the enterprise union and/or Commission for Protection against Discrimination.
In the published draft, not yet in force.
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Time to respond 2 months
Every request starts a clock. Answering one needs pay structures and equal-value groupings that already exist.
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Salary history questions are banned
Applicants learn the pay range before the interview, and employers may not ask what they earn today.
Bulgaria is still at the draft stage of implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive. The government published draft amendments to the Protection against Discrimination Act, which would carry the directive’s requirements into national law, and ran a public consultation on the text in May and June 2026.
No final, enacted measure has been identified yet. That means the core employer obligations you’ll eventually need to meet, like pay information rights, salary ranges in job postings, and gender pay gap reporting, are proposed but not yet in force.
The proposed scope is nationwide and covers both public and private employment. Until Parliament adopts a final version, treat everything in the draft as subject to change.
The measure
- Law or measure
- Government-approved bill amending the Protection against Discrimination Act to implement Directive (EU) 2023/970, National Assembly bill ID 167545
- Core obligations start
- Day of State Gazette promulgation (proposed), except reporting/JPA §§4-5: 7 Jun 2027 for 150+ and 7 Jun 2031 for 100-149
- Who is covered
- Proposed nationwide rules cover public and private employment. Core recruitment/information rules apply across employers; pay-gap reporting/JPA applies from 100 employees with staged commencement, and temporary-agency workers assigned to the undertaking are included for reporting headcount.
What the law requires
- Pay range before the interview Source for: Pay range before the interview
- Salary history questions banned Source for: Salary history questions banned
- Pay information requests, 2 months to respond Source for: Pay information requests, 2 months to respond
- Gap reporting from 100 employees Source for: Gap reporting from 100 employees
- Joint pay assessment at a 5.0% gap Source for: Joint pay assessment at a 5.0% gap
How Bulgaria differs from the Directive
The Government-approved text is now filed in Parliament. General recruitment and worker-information provisions would commence on State Gazette promulgation if enacted unchanged; reporting/JPA is staged to 7 Jun 2027 for 150+ and 7 Jun 2031 for 100-149. The reporting threshold is 100, 250+ reports annually, 100-249 every three years, and the JPA trigger remains 5% + unjustified + unremedied for six months.
What this means for employers
Because Bulgaria’s rules are still a draft, you are not yet legally required to act. But the direction is clear enough that waiting until a final law appears is risky, especially since several specific rules (the pay information right, salary range requirements, and any salary history ban) haven’t been confirmed in detail yet.
- Track the consultation outcome: the draft went through public consultation in 2026, and revisions are possible before adoption.
- Start mapping your recruitment process: if a salary-range disclosure rule is confirmed, you’ll want job postings and interview scripts ready to adjust.
- Review what you tell employees about pay: an eventual pay information right would let workers ask about pay levels, so it helps to know now what data you could produce.
- Watch the two enforcement bodies: the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Commission for Protection against Discrimination are both named in connection with this measure, and the Commission is Bulgaria’s equality body.
- Don’t set a reporting calendar yet: first reporting deadlines for larger and mid-size employers have not been researched or confirmed, so avoid committing to dates that aren’t yet defined.
The most useful thing you can do right now is prepare the groundwork, recruitment practices, pay data, and internal communication, without assuming the current draft text is final.
Enforcement and open questions
- Competent authority
- Ministry of Labour and Social Policy; Commission for Protection against Discrimination
- Equality body
- Commission for Protection against Discrimination
- What could still change
- Bill ID 167545 is a Government-approved parliamentary proposal, not enacted law. Parliament may amend it. If enacted unchanged, most transparency provisions commence on promulgation, while reporting/JPA §§4-5 start later by headcount. Detailed assessment/reporting method will also depend on a Ministry ordinance adopted within three months of promulgation.
Common questions
Is Bulgaria's pay transparency law already in force?
No. It is a published draft amendment to the Protection against Discrimination Act, which would implement EU Directive 2023/970, and it went through public consultation in May and June 2026. No final enacted measure has been identified, so core employer obligations remain pending.
Who will enforce pay transparency rules in Bulgaria?
The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Commission for Protection against Discrimination are both named as relevant authorities. The Commission also serves as Bulgaria's equality body. Their specific enforcement roles will depend on the final adopted text.
What will Bulgaria's pay transparency rules cover once adopted?
The proposed rules would apply nationwide, across both public and private employment. Details on the pay information right, salary ranges in job postings, and any salary history ban have not yet been researched or confirmed in the published draft.
When do gender pay gap reporting deadlines start in Bulgaria?
First reporting due dates for employers with 250 or more staff, and for those with 100 to 149 staff, have not been researched yet. The overall start date for core obligations is currently listed as pending, so no deadlines can be confirmed.
Is Bulgaria going further than the EU directive requires?
It's currently unclear whether Bulgaria's draft goes beyond the minimum requirements of the EU Pay Transparency Directive. This will only become clear once a final law is adopted and its text can be compared against the directive.
- Pay information request right Art. 7(1)
- Proposed
- Response deadline Art. 7(4)
- 2 months
- Salary range in recruitment Art. 5(1)
- Yes
- Salary history questions banned Art. 5(2)
- Yes
- Joint pay assessment trigger Art. 10(1)
- 5.0%
Own remuneration plus sex-disaggregated average remuneration for workers doing the same work or work of equal value; where disclosure risks identifying another worker's individual pay, information is routed via the enterprise union and/or Commission for Protection against Discrimination.
Written right to own remuneration and sex-disaggregated average pay for same/equal-value categories.
Read the sourceThe employer must answer in writing within this period.
Directive-style information right: two months; inaccurate/incomplete information can be challenged with a 14-day motivated response. A parallel Labour Code route also uses two months for same-level average pay.
Read the sourceApplicants receive the pay or pay range before the interview, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.
Candidate must receive the base salary or its range plus permanent supplementary remuneration and applicable collective-agreement conditions.
Read the sourceWhether employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their current or previous pay.
Filed bill prohibits requesting remuneration information from other or previous employers.
Read the sourceThe unjustified gap that obliges the employer and worker representatives to assess pay together.
At least 5% category gap is one of three cumulative conditions: 5%+, unjustified, and not corrected within six months.
Read the source- Reporting threshold
- 100 employees
- Reporting model
- Proposed employer-calculated / employer-filed Operational data-production and filing model for pay-gap reporting: employer-calculated, authority-calculated, hybrid, proposed, pre-existing or absent.
- First report, 250 or more employees
- By 7 Jun 2027 (proposed)
- First report, 100 to 149 employees
- By 7 Jun 2031 (proposed)
- Metrics required
- EU seven; filed Article 14b(3) requires overall and median gaps, basic/additional remuneration splits, supplementary-remuneration participation, quartiles and category gaps. Art. 9(1): Seven metrics: mean gap; variable-component gap; median gap; median variable gap; variable-pay participation by sex; quartile distribution by sex; category-level gap split basic and variable.
- Formal transposition stage
- Published draft
- Scope
- Nationwide
Next milestone
Parliamentary committee review, amendments and adoption; after promulgation, implementing ordinance under proposed Article 14b(9) within three months.
Primary sources
- Government-approved bill amending the Protection against Discrimination Act to implement Directive (EU) 2023/970 — National Assembly bill ID 167545 Primary source, checked 18 September 2026
- Formal transposition stage Published draft · proposed · high confidence
- Core employer obligations Not operational · proposed · high confidence
- Transposition scope Nationwide · proposed · high confidence
- Salary range in recruitment Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Salary history questions banned Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Pay information request right Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Response deadline 2 months · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting threshold 100 · proposed · high confidence
- First report, 250 or more employees By 7 Jun 2027 (proposed) · proposed · high confidence
- First report, 100 to 149 employees By 7 Jun 2031 (proposed) · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting model Proposed employer-calculated / employer-filed · proposed · high confidence
- Joint pay assessment trigger 5% · proposed · high confidence
- Info reference period No national rule identified · not identified · high confidence
- Info pay basis Actual remuneration paid / earned · proposed · high confidence
- Info pay components scope Total remuneration / all components · proposed · high confidence
- Info request frequency Multiple / mixed · proposed · high confidence
- Info employee reference period eligibility No separate prior-reference-period service condition was identified in the filed Directive-transposition bill; a parallel Labour Code remuneration-information mechanism has its own one-year repeat-request limitation. · proposed · high confidence
- Info normalisation method Annual gross remuneration plus corresponding gross hourly remuneration. · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting reference period Previous calendar year · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting pay basis Actual remuneration paid / earned · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting pay components scope Different / modified · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting population basis Employees of the undertaking/administration in scope, including workers supplied by a temporary-work agency for threshold headcount; the filed bill does not state a separate point-in-time headcount snapshot rule. · proposed · high confidence
- Reporting normalisation method Annual gross remuneration plus corresponding gross hourly remuneration. · proposed · high confidence
- Employer required input data Historical payroll/remuneration, sex, same/equal-value employee category, base and additional/variable pay, paid/working-hours data, temporary-agency-worker headcount/status, and data needed for annual/hourly pay-level calculations. · proposed · high confidence
- First data period needed Proposed: 2026 data for the first 2027 reporting cycle for 150+ employers if the filed bill timetable is enacted. · proposed · high confidence
- Own pay information Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Comparator information Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Comparator information start Day of State Gazette promulgation (proposed) · proposed · high confidence
Change history
Recent updates
Bulgaria files Government-approved pay-transparency bill in Parliament
Bulgaria’s Government-approved Directive 2023/970 bill has been formally filed in the National Assembly.
This page is maintained by Evenpay from official primary sources and reviewed before publication. It is general information, not legal advice. Requirements vary by member state and change as national laws progress; figures described as proposed are subject to amendment.
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