SRS Legal Shots | Pay transparency: Portugal proposes partial transposition of EU directive

Broader reporting obligations and tougher consequences for non-compliance

The draft bill partially transposing the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) into Portuguese law was published yesterday and is open for public consultation until 25 August 2026 (BTE - separata - 20260805). Portuguese legislator opted for a partial transposition of the Directive by amending Law No. 60/2018 of 21 August, the key piece of legislation governing the mechanisms currently in place to promote and safeguard pay equality.

Without prejudice to the obligations already established under the Directive, particularly in relation to pre-employment pay transparency, the right to information, pay gap reporting and the reversal of the burden of proof, the draft bill introduces a number of national measures that appear more stringent than the approach adopted at EU level, including:

• Reporting obligations extended to employers with more than 50 employees, rather than the 100-employee threshold set out in the Directive;

• Stronger consequences for repeated non-compliance, including potential revocation of tax or financial incentives, loss of public benefits and mandatory training; and

• Extension from one to three years of the period during which dismissal or disciplinary action may be presumed abusive following a pay discrimination complaint.

The transposition remains partial, with certain procedural safeguards and accessibility requirements under the Directive still to be implemented.

SRS Legal has been closely monitoring the legislative process and assessing its potential implications for its Clients’ pay transparency and reporting policies and procedures.