does the works council have approval rights over the remuneration policy

Right of approval is not yet regulated in the directive itself

The pay transparency directive says nothing about the works council. Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2023/970 requires employers to work with a remuneration structure based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, but on employee participation — who may have a say internally — the directive is silent. This is not a European matter but a national one: each country regulates how its own employee participation legislation relates to new obligations for employers.

For the Netherlands, this means the answer must come from how the Works Council Act links to the remuneration policy that will soon be mandatory, and that is a question that belongs in the implementation process. Bill 36949, which must transpose the directive into Dutch legislation, is currently still under consideration. As long as that process is ongoing, there is no definitive ruling, set down in legislation, on the right of approval of the works council for the remuneration policy that follows from the directive. What must substantively be included in that policy can meanwhile already be understood: see what must be included in a remuneration policy for the building blocks prescribed by the directive, separate from the question of who internally has a say.

Why this must become clear in the implementation law

Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2023/970 addresses the content of the remuneration structure — that it is based on objective, gender-neutral criteria — and not the Dutch employee participation structure. The question of whether and how the works council receives approval rights in this regard depends on how Bill 36949 establishes this or links it to existing employee participation legislation; as long as that bill is under consideration, this is not settled. For employers who want to think ahead on the content of the policy, it is meanwhile worthwhile to look at the underlying criteria: see when remuneration criteria are gender-neutral for the standards the directive provides for this.