May I state a range instead of an exact salary?

A salary range is permitted, as is a fixed amount

Yes, a salary range is sufficient: the directive gives employers the choice between stating one specific starting salary and stating a salary range. The applicant must receive this information before the first interview, and it may therefore already be included in the job posting itself. There is no minimum company size requirement for this obligation: it applies to every employer, small or large.

This freedom of choice does not stand alone. The same provision prohibits asking an applicant what they currently earn or have earned in the past — the salary range or amount that the employer itself states is thus the only basis for the salary discussion, not the candidate's salary history. For the Netherlands, it is relevant that the legislative proposal implementing this obligation is still under consideration by the House of Representatives and is not yet in force: for private employers this obligation therefore does not yet apply as a binding legal requirement. For employers in the public and semi-public sector, the situation is different, as they may already be directly bound by the directive now that the transposition deadline has passed. Anyone who starts with this now is at least not getting ahead of something that will later be reversed.

Where this is stated in the directive

This rule follows from Article 5(1) of Directive (EU) 2023/970, which explicitly states that applicants have the right to information about the starting remuneration "or the salary range thereof", to be provided before the interview or via the job posting. The prohibition on asking about current or previous salary is in the same article, paragraph 2. For the status in the Netherlands, the source is the legislative proposal for the Act implementing the directive on pay transparency between men and women, as under consideration by the House of Representatives.