Pay transparency in Romania
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Pay information requests Proposed
Employees can ask for their own pay level and the averages for colleagues doing equal or equal-value work, broken down by sex.
In the published draft, not yet in force.
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Time to respond 30 working days
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.
Romania has not yet passed a pay transparency law. What exists today is a legislative proposal, registered as L445/2026, working its way through Senate committees. It is meant to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive, but it is still a draft, not a binding rule.
The path has not been smooth. The Legislative Council issued a negative opinion on the proposal on 29 June 2026, which adds uncertainty about its final shape and timing. Nothing about employer obligations, start dates or reporting deadlines is settled yet.
If enacted, the proposal is intended to apply nationwide, across both public and private employment. For now, the most useful thing an HR or compensation lead can do is track the process and build readiness in the background.
The measure
- Law or measure
- Legislative proposal on pay transparency and equal remuneration
- Core obligations start
- Pending
- Who is covered
- The proposal is intended to cover public and private employment
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, 30 working days to respond Source for: Pay information requests, 30 working days 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 Romania differs from the Directive
Romania's L445/2026 is in the Senate legislative process and expressly targets transposition of Directive 2023/970.
What this means for employers
Because Romania’s proposal is still pending and carries a negative Legislative Council opinion, nothing described here is a current legal obligation. Treat it as a strong signal of direction, not a compliance deadline. The proposed 5.0% pay gap figure gives you an early sense of the scale of gap you may eventually need to explain, even though the trigger is not yet in force.
- Watch the legislative process: follow Senate committee reports, amendments and whether the negative opinion changes the proposal’s scope or survival.
- Start building baseline controls: get your pay structures, job levels and gender pay gap data organized against the general Directive framework, so you are not starting from zero if Romania’s law lands.
- Hold off on hard commitments: details like the employee pay information right, salary range rules, salary history rules and reporting deadlines for different company sizes have not been defined yet, so avoid locking in specific process dates.
- Know who to watch: the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity and Territorial Labour Inspectorates would be the enforcing authorities, with the National Council for Combating Discrimination and ANES as the equality body.
The proposed reporting model would put the calculation work on employers rather than the state, so it is worth mapping now where your pay data lives and how easily you could pull it together.
Enforcement and open questions
- Competent authority
- Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity; Territorial Labour Inspectorates
- Equality body
- National Council for Combating Discrimination and ANES
- What could still change
- L445/2026 is a private-member, cross-party legislative proposal pending in Senate committees. The Legislative Council issued negative opinion no. 631 on 29 June 2026. No enacted measure has been validated.
Common questions
Is Romania's pay transparency law already in force?
No. It exists only as a legislative proposal, L445/2026, currently pending in Senate committees. The Legislative Council issued a negative opinion on it on 29 June 2026, and no measure has been enacted.
What pay gap percentage would trigger reporting obligations in Romania?
The proposal includes a 5.0% pay gap figure as the trigger point for joint pay assessments. This is a proposed figure tied to a draft law, so it does not currently create any legal obligation.
Which employers would be covered by Romania's pay transparency proposal?
The proposal is intended to cover both public and private employers nationwide. Specific size thresholds and reporting start dates for different company sizes have not yet been researched or defined.
When would Romanian employers need to start reporting on pay gaps?
There is no confirmed start date. The core obligations start date is listed as pending, so the practical next step is to monitor Senate committee reports and amendments for signs of progress.
- Pay information request right Art. 7(1)
- Proposed
- Response deadline Art. 7(4)
- 30 working days
- 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%
Employees may request their individual pay level and the averages for workers performing equal or equal-value work, broken down by sex.
Workers could request written information personally, through worker representatives or through the National Council for Combating Discrimination on their own pay and sex-disaggregated average pay for same/equal-value work.
Read the sourceThe employer must answer in writing within this period.
The employer would have to provide requested pay information within a reasonable period and no later than 30 working days; clarification responses also have a maximum 30-working-day period.
Read the sourceApplicants receive the pay or pay range before the interview, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.
The proposal requires initial remuneration/range information and relevant components in a public vacancy notice or in writing before the interview so that the candidate can negotiate on an informed basis.
Read the sourceWhether employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their current or previous pay.
The proposal prohibits employers from requesting information about candidates' remuneration in current or previous employment relationships.
Read the sourceThe unjustified gap that obliges the employer and worker representatives to assess pay together.
A category-level average pay gap of at least 5% is one of the cumulative JPA conditions, alongside lack of objective justification and failure to remedy within six months.
Read the source- Reporting threshold
- 100 employees
- Reporting model
- Proposed employer-calculated 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)
- Formal transposition stage
- Published draft
- Scope
- Nationwide
Next milestone
Monitor Senate committee reports, amendments and the negative-opinion risk.
Primary sources
- Legislative proposal on pay transparency and equal remuneration Primary source, checked 17 August 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 30 working days · 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 · proposed · high confidence
- Joint pay assessment trigger 5% · proposed · high confidence
- Employer required input data Payroll, sex, working hours, total gross pay/components and employee-category/equal-value data. · proposed · high confidence
- First data period needed Proposed: 2026 data for the first 2027 cycle for 150+/250+ employers; 2030 data for 100-149 employers. · proposed · high confidence
- Own pay information Yes · proposed · high confidence
- Comparator information Yes · proposed · high confidence
Change history
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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