Country guide
Pay transparency in Spain
What the EU Pay Transparency Directive means for employers in Spain, based on its national transposition — status, thresholds, the joint-assessment trigger, and where to file.
Spain missed the 7 June 2026 deadline. A draft Royal Decree transposing the Directive was published for public consultation on 3 August 2026 (audiencia pública, closing 24 August 2026); the consultation is closed and the ministry's participation portal still publishes only that 3 August text, so nothing later has been read. Spain had not transposed as at 2 September 2026: RD 902/2020 itself carries "Última actualización, publicada el 14/10/2020" and has never been amended, and neither the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Ley Orgánica 3/2007, RD 901/2020 nor the LISOS carries a 2026 amendment; Spain's EUR-Lex notification list shows 10 national implementing measures, the newest published 14 October 2020. The draft is PARTIAL: it builds on the existing registro retributivo regime (RD 902/2020), brings the worker right to pay information into force (one request per year, annual and hourly averages, two-month employer response window), and phases in gender pay-gap reporting — 250+ from 7 June 2027 (annual), 150 or more from 7 June 2027 (triennial), and 50 to 149 from 7 June 2031 (triennial), the cadence itself splitting at 250 rather than at 150 (art. 11.3: annual for 250+, every three years for 50–249) — plus a SEPARATE, narrower duty for employers of fifty or more to disclose the gender-neutral criteria used for salary-progression decisions (not full gap reporting). It does not transpose the Directive's joint pay assessment at all, does not fix penalty amounts for the new duties and does not cover pay ranges in recruitment — a further draft is expected. Not yet in force; existing rules (registro retributivo, equality-plan pay audits, LISOS sanctions) remain in force. Draft is provisional pending approval and may still change.
Spain has not yet transposed the directive, and the 7 June 2026 deadline has passed. The directive's own thresholds are the best guide until national law is enacted; any pre-existing national pay-reporting regime continues to apply in the meantime.
Reporting duties apply by employer size: 150 or more employees, from 2027 · Every three years (anticipated); 250 or more employees, from 2027 · Annual (anticipated); 50 to 149 employees, from 2031 · Every three years (anticipated). The directive's 5% trigger for a joint pay assessment applies until national law sets its own.
Figures are reported to the competent authority rather than published openly. Either way, the underlying work is the same: establish work of equal value through gender-neutral job evaluation, produce the statutory pay-gap report in the national format, and run a joint assessment where the gap is too wide.
Obligations at a glance
| Reporting threshold |
|
|---|---|
| Joint pay assessment | — |
| Public publication | Reported to the authority only |
| Competent authority | Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (ITSS) — existing RD 902/2020 enforcement; the August 2026 draft creates a "Comisión para el seguimiento de la transparencia retributiva" as the recipient and publisher for the new reporting duty (draft arts. 11.1, 14.3.c)) |
Frequently asked
Is the EU Pay Transparency Directive in force in Spain?
Spain has not yet transposed the directive, and the 7 June 2026 deadline has passed. The directive's own thresholds are the best guide until national law is enacted; any pre-existing national pay-reporting regime continues to apply in the meantime.
Which employers have to report in Spain?
Reporting duties apply by employer size: 150 or more employees, from 2027 · Every three years (anticipated); 250 or more employees, from 2027 · Annual (anticipated); 50 to 149 employees, from 2031 · Every three years (anticipated).
What triggers a joint pay assessment in Spain?
The directive's 5% trigger for a joint pay assessment applies until national law sets its own.
This guide summarises publicly available information for orientation only. It is not legal advice — confirm every figure against Spain's own transposition text before relying on it.