The overall purpose of the new rules is to combat gender pay gaps, and a lack of pay transparency is one of the obstacles. The new rules in the draft bill aim to change this, and this requires preparation for all companies.
The rules are expected to come into force on 1 January 2027.
Information obligations
Under the upcoming rules, companies must inform applicants of the starting salary or the salary range for a specific vacant position. Companies are free to choose how they share information. This could, for example, be in the job posting, before a job interview, or in a completely different way. What matters is that the information is shared in a way that ensures transparent and informed salary negotiations.
In addition, companies will not be able to ask applicants about their salaries in current or previous jobs. This does not prevent companies from asking applicants about their salary expectations if information on the starting salary or salary range has already been shared.
For existing employees, a new right to information will be introduced. Employees will have the right to request information about their individual pay level and the average pay levels for employees who perform the same work or work of equal value. In such cases, it will be assessed whether the company can share average pay levels. For example, this will not be possible if only employees of one gender are in the category.
Finally, companies must ensure that employees can easily see the objective and the gender-neutral criteria by which salaries are determined. This requirement will apply to all companies, even though the EU rules allowed smaller companies with fewer than 50 employees to be exempted.
Pay reports
Medium and large companies will be required to report their employees’ salaries under the new rules. The number of employees determines whether the requirement applies, when companies must either prepare the first report or receive it, and the frequency thereafter:
Employees | First pay report | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
250+ | 1 September 2028 | Annually |
150-249 | 1 September 2028 | Every three years |
100-149 | 1 September 2031 | Every three years |
50-99* | 1 September 2031 | Every three years |
*If the company has at least eight employees of each gender in the same group. These companies are required to provide less information.
When the requirement applies, companies will receive pay reports from Statistics Denmark or their employer organisation. As today, the report will be based on the salaries reported by the company. Companies are responsible for ensuring the reports are correct. If the information is incorrect, the companies must prepare their own pay reports.
Companies must share the pay reports with their employees. In addition, it must be sent to the Labour Market Institute for Equal Pay.
Pay assessment
If there is a difference of more than 5% that is not justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria, and the difference has not been corrected after six months, the company must assess the salary with the employee representatives.
Sanctions
Employees may be entitled to compensation or damages if companies do not comply with the new rules. The level of compensation will depend on which rules have been breached. If an employee has received a lower pay because of their gender, they are entitled to receive the difference.
iuno’s opinion
Although the draft bill is currently only at the consultation stage, it contains several helpful inputs for companies. Companies would therefore be well advised to continue or start their internal preparations for the new rules. We have previously written about how to approach the project here.
iuno recommends that companies assess whether they face any pitfalls under the new rules and follow developments closely. Although changes may be made before the law is finally adopted, it will remain within the directive’s framework.
[Draft bill to amend the Danish Act on Equal Pay of 26 February 2026]