What are the main differences and added requirements in Romania’s salary transparency draft compared with Directive 2023/970?

„Could you share the salary range for this position?” or „Could you tell me how much my colleague earns?” are common questions during interviews or informal workplace discussions. These typically receive cautious answers from managers such as: “it depends,” “we’ll discuss it at the interview,” or “it’s confidential” because salary transparency hasn’t yet been formally legislated in Romania.

Directive (EU) 2023/970 has, over the past two years, changed this European trend of maintaining salary confidentiality, introducing the legal obligation for employers to communicate the salary or salary range before hiring. Employees also have the right to request information on pay levels for comparable roles and employers are required to report gender pay gaps.

Romania must transpose these provisions into national legislation by June 2026. The positive news is that, in March 2026, the Ministry of Labour opened for public consultation a draft law on salary transparency, which translates the general principles of EU Directive 2023/970 into concrete and enforceable rules.

We are talking about a framework that clearly defines what must be communicated, when, to whom, and within what deadlines. The EU Directive and Romania’s draft follow the same direction, but the difference is in how the provisions will be applied nationally.

Ioana Dobre, Senior Consultancy Manager at BIA Human Capital Solutions, explains the new elements introduced by the draft law on salary transparency compared to Directive 2023/970, as well as key provisions regarding employer obligations transposed into Romanian legislation.

 

Find Out from this article:

• The rules on salary communication
• The employer’s obligations towards employees regarding pay
• What a joint pay assessment involves and employer’s duties
• Institutions responsible for salary transparency
• Reporting deadlines for companies
• Sanctions applicable to companies that fail to comply with the new transparency rules

 

Transparency in recruitment: rules on salary communication

The European Directive introduces a fundamental shift: candidates should no longer enter a recruitment process without a clear understanding of remuneration. The logic is simple—lack of information creates negotiation imbalance and perpetuates pay gaps.

The Romanian draft law maintains this principle. Salary information must not be “available somewhere” in the process. Employers are required to provide it at a clear moment: either directly in the job advertisement or in writing before the interview.

More specifically, the draft provides that:

(1) Employers must provide candidates with information regarding:
a) the initial level of remuneration or the applicable salary range, established based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, for the relevant position;
b) relevant clauses of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, where applicable.

(2) This information must be included in the job vacancy notice published on the employer’s website or in any publicly accessible space, or it must be communicated in writing to the candidate before the interview, in a way that enables informed and transparent salary negotiation.

At the same time, a practice previously common is explicitly prohibited: employers may not request candidates’ salary history to prevent the perpetuation of existing inequalities between roles or between women and men.

The Romanian draft law, like the EU Directive, includes explicit requirements regarding how job advertisements are drafted and how recruitment processes are conducted. These must be gender-neutral and non-discriminatory. A key new element is the obligation to inform candidates about relevant clauses of applicable collective labour agreements, where they exist.

 

Internal pay transparency: obligations towards employees

The EU Directive requires employers to make the criteria used to determine pay and salary progression accessible.

Employees also have the right to request information about their own salary and the average pay levels,  by gender, for similar roles. Employers must inform employees annually about this right. In addition, information must be accessible to persons with disabilities, provided in an adapted format to ensure it can be understood and effectively used.

The Romanian draft law adopts these obligations, requiring employers to provide employees with criteria used to determine pay, pay levels, and pay progression mechanisms (where applicable). It also clarifies additional obligations for public sector employees:

For publicly funded personnel, employers must also provide salary scales, in addition to the above requirements.

The draft also clarifies obligations for employers with fewer than 50 employees:

(3) The obligation to inform employees about pay progression criteria does not apply to employers with fewer than 50 workers.

However, the Romanian legislation introduces a stricter approach than the EU Directive, setting a maximum response time of 30 working days for employers. Employees are not limited to a single request—if information is incomplete or unclear, they may request further clarification, and employers must respond with justification.

Another relevant provision is the possibility for employees to address not only the employer directly, but also the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD), reducing practical barriers to accessing information.

At the same time, there is also a proactive employer obligation (transposed from the Directive): annual communication to employees regarding their right to request salary information and how this right can be exercised. Thus, transparency is no longer solely dependent on individual initiative but becomes part of recurring internal communication.

 

Obligation for joint pay assessment

 

REPORTING OBLIGATIONS BASED ON NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Directive (EU) 2023/970 introduces, for the first time at the European level, the principle that salary transparency obligations must be proportionate to the number of employees.

The Directive establishes a unified European framework, including reporting deadlines and thresholds:

Companies with more than 250 employees:

• must report annually
• first reporting takes place in 2027, for the 2026 calendar year

Companies with 150–249 employees:

• must report once every 3 years
• starting also in 2027

Companies with 100–149 employees:

• are included in the same 3-year reporting cycle
• but with delayed application, starting in 2031

Member States shall not prevent employers with fewer than 100 workers from voluntarily providing the information referred to in paragraph (1). Member States may, under national law, require employers with fewer than 100 workers to provide remuneration information.

If the pay gap exceeds 5% and cannot be justified, the obligation to carry out a joint pay assessment is triggered.

Romania has fully adopted the Directive’s provisions regarding reporting deadlines based on company size and the content of reports, as set out in Article 9 of the draft law.

The information subject to reporting includes at least the following:
a) the gender pay gap;
b) the gender pay gap in relation to complementary or variable pay components;
c) the median gender pay gap;
d) the median gender pay gap for complementary or variable pay components;
e) the proportion of female and male workers receiving complementary or variable pay components;
f) the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band;
g) the gender pay gap by worker category, broken down by base salary or ordinary pay and complementary or variable pay components.

What is new in the Romanian draft law is the introduction of response deadlines for employers to employee requests (following publication of pay reports):

(10) Workers, workers’ representatives, Territorial Labour Inspectorates, and the National Council for Combating Discrimination have the right to request clarifications and additional details from employers regarding any data provided, including explanations of any gender pay differences. Employers must respond to these requests within 30 working days, with the possibility of extending the deadline by up to an additional 30 working days, providing a reasoned response.

(11) Where gender pay differences are not justified based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, employers must remedy the situation within 90 working days, in cooperation with workers’ representatives, the Territorial Labour Inspectorate and/or the National Council for Combating Discrimination, as applicable.

(12) By way of exception, in duly justified cases, the deadline referred to in paragraph (11) may be extended, but by no more than 6 months.

The draft law also specifies the institution that will receive employer reports.

(3) The reporting of the data referred to in paragraph (2) is carried out to the National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men, as follows:
(4) The reporting methodology, standard reporting format, and exact deadlines shall be established by order of the Minister of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, at the proposal of the National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men.

The Romanian draft also clarifies the situation of companies with fewer than 100 employees. Under the EU Directive, these companies are not required to report gender pay gaps, and the same rule is maintained in Romania:
(5) Employers with fewer than 100 workers may report the information referred to in paragraph (1) voluntarily.

 

SANCTIONS FOR EMPLOYERS THAT DO NOT COMPLY WITH SALARY TRANSPARENCY RULES

The European Directive states: “Member States should provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties in case of infringement of national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive or of national provisions already in force at the date of entry into force of this Directive relating to the right to equal pay. Such penalties should include fines which may be based on the gross annual turnover of the employer or on its total payroll.”

Relevant aggravating or mitigating circumstances must also be taken into account, depending on the situation, for example, where pay discrimination based on sex is combined with other grounds of discrimination.

Member States should establish specific penalties for repeated infringements of any right or obligation relating to equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value, to reflect the seriousness of the infringement and further deter such violations.

The Romanian draft law transposes these provisions and clearly sets out the sanctioned acts and applicable fines:

(1) The following acts constitute contraventions and are sanctioned:
a) failure to comply with the obligation to inform candidates, as provided in Article 5(1);
b) asking questions regarding salary history, as prohibited under Article 5(3);
c) failure to ensure access to remuneration criteria, as provided in Article 6;
d) refusal to provide information requested by workers, as provided in Article 7;
e) failure to comply with reporting obligations, as provided in Article 9;
f) failure to carry out the joint pay assessment, under Article 10.

Romania has also established sanctions for employers who do not comply with salary transparency rules. These contraventions are punishable by fines ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 RON.

Where a breach of the principle of equal pay is based on multiple discrimination criteria, one of which is sex, it is considered intersectional discrimination, which is treated as an aggravating circumstance.

The finding of contraventions and the application of sanctions fall under the responsibility of labour inspectorate control staff, within the limits of their legal powers.

If rights and obligations are repeatedly violated, the offence is considered more serious and is sanctioned with fines ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 RON.

CONCLUSION

The Romanian draft law on salary transparency follows the framework established by Directive (EU) 2023/970, but makes it more explicit and easier to apply. While the Directive sets the general framework, national legislation introduces concrete deadlines, responsible institutions, and specific sanctions.

Salary transparency moves from the level of principle into practical implementation—so that questions like “what is the salary?” or “what does my colleague earn?” are no longer avoided or postponed, but receive a clear answer from the very beginning of recruitment or employee discussions.

The BIA Human Capital Solutions team, with 17 years of experience in HR consultancy, is a trusted partner for companies seeking to understand and adapt to legislative changes in employment law. The BIA HCS labour law experts provide full support to implement salary transparency in your company as soon as the law is published in June 2026.

 

 

READ ALSO: 

 

How to avoid legal issues in employee relations and adapt to pay transparency requirements

Legislative changes on medical leave, unemployment benefits, tax incentives and the minimum wage. Find out how they impact employers and employees!