Pay transparency in Belgium
Partly transposed
Belgium missed the 7 June 2026 deadline. Only the Flemish public sector and the French Community have transposed the directive, and only for their own staff. For private employers no federal bill has been published. Talks in the National Labour Council (NAR/CNT) on amending collective agreements No. 25 and No. 38 were paused at the employers' request. Law firms expect a minimal transposition in late 2026 or early 2027.
Draft · legal review pending, not yet published.
Last checked: 10/11/2026. This overview is not legal advice. Laws change; the linked legal text is what counts.
- National law
- Loi du 22 avril 2012 visant à lutter contre l'écart salarial entre hommes et femmes / Wet van 22 april 2012 ter bestrijding van de loonkloof tussen mannen en vrouwen (geltendes Recht) (Act of 22 April 2012 on combating the gender pay gap (current law); no federal transposing bill yet)
- In force since
- –
- Job ads
- No rule yet. No current rule requires pay information in job ads for private employers. Once transposed, at least the directive's minimum (initial pay or range, in the ad or before the interview) will apply; no Belgian draft text exists yet.
- Asking about previous pay
- No legal ban yet
- Workers' right to information
- There is no general individual right to comparator pay information for private-sector employees yet; this would come with the federal transposition.
- Pay reporting
- Under the 2012 law, companies with on average at least 50 employees must prepare a pay-structure analysis report every two years and discuss it with the works council or the prevention committee: a short form for 50–99 employees, the full form for 100+.
- Penalties
- Not verified (existing law). Sanctions under the transposing law are not yet specified.
Not verified: No source found after roughly August–October 2026, so later federal steps are unknown. Not verified: the names and dates of the Flemish and French Community decrees, penalties under existing law, and whether the Commission answered Belgium's request for a six-month grace period. The two official pages (SPF Emploi, IEFH) were seen in search results only, not opened. Status is 'partially_transposed' only because of the regional public-sector measures; private employers are not covered.
18% of job ads in Belgium state pay
1,832 of 10,351 ads on employer career sites and applicant tracking systems in the last month; 13% for tech-related titles (110 of 854). Measured on 11/11/2026 via Active Jobs DB; includes pay read from the ad text.
IT salaries in BelgiumSources
- Égalité Femmes-Hommes: l'écart salarial · SPF Emploi, Travail et Concertation sociale
- Législation – écart salarial · Institut pour l'égalité des femmes et des hommes
- Belgium Misses the Deadline for Transposing the Pay Transparency Directive · L&E Global · 30/06/2026
- EU Pay Transparency Transposition: Belgium Implements Public Sector Portion, Private Sector Still to Come · Jackson Lewis
- Omzetting loontransparantierichtlijn uitgesteld – Wat nu? (VBO) · Legal News / VBO-FEB · 05/06/2026