Directorate of Equality
Equal pay confirmation
Equal pay confirmation is a confirmation from the Directorate of Equality that the pay system of a company or institution does not discriminate based on gender. It is based on date demonstrating that pay decisions are reasonable and fair.
Companies with 25-49 employees can choose either to apply for equal pay confirmation or equal pay certification.
The Directorate of Equality assesses whether the documentation fulfils legal requirements. If anything is missing, the company is given the opportunity to complete it. Once requirements are met, equal pay confirmation is granted and valid for three years.
Important: companies with equal pay confirmation may not use the equal pay mark – that is reserved exclusively for those who have obtained equal pay certification.
If a company receives neither certification nor confirmation, the Directorate of Equality may impose daily fines (penalties).
To obtain equal pay confirmation, an Equality plan approved by the Directorate of Equality must be submitted to the Directorate of Equality.
Once an equality plan approved by the Directorate of Equality has been submitted, the following additional documents must be provided:
Equal pay policy
Job classification
Pay analysis
Remediation plan (if needed)
Summary from the senior manager
Number of companies and institutions that have received equal pay confirmation: 154
Total number of employees at the companies and institutions that have obtained equal pay confirmation: 5.183
See further information in the attached document.
Updated April 10, 2026
Article 8 of the Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights Irrespective of Gender, No. 150/2020
Regulation No. 303/2021 on the implementation of equal pay certification and oversight by the Directorate of Equality
Equal pay certification confirms that a company’s pay system and its implementation do not discriminate on the basis of gender.
The main objective of equal pay certification is to reduce the gender pay gap and to promote gender equality in the labour market
Companies or institutions with 25 to 49 employees may choose either to obtain equal pay certification or equal pay confirmation.
According to the transitional provision, companies and institutions with 25–49 employees, based on their average annual number of staff, must obtain equal pay confirmation or equal pay certification no later than 31 December 2022
Yes. Equal pay certification confirms that the pay system and its implementation do not discriminate in wages or terms of employment, regardless of the gender composition of the workplace at any given time.
The equality plan must also specify how the organization is working to improve gender balance within the workplace.
No. A company or institution that receives equal pay certification may still pay different wages, provided that the differences are based on objective and relevant criteria, such as education, experience, skills, responsibilities, workload, or working conditions. Equal pay certification also does not prevent employers from considering individual factors that affect how an employee performs their job or from taking job performance into account when determining wages.
A difference in wages between individuals is therefore not prohibited in itself; however, any such difference must be based on legitimate, job‑related criteria that do not, in any way, relate to gender.
No. While companies and institutions are required to make their equal pay policy accessible and provide sufficient information for assessing its effectiveness, this does not involve disclosing individual employees’ salaries or making all wage data public.
Employers must present the results of the pay analysis regarding the gender pay gap to their staff. However, this does not mean that individual salary information will be shared. The requirement concerns aggregated findings, not personal pay details.
All required documentation must be submitted in order to obtain equal pay certification, even when all employees are on the same pay scale
The Directorate of Equality is authorised to request any documentation necessary to carry out its supervisory role. A pay analysis is one of the documents that companies and institutions must submit to the Directorate of Equality in order to obtain equal pay certification.
It is not necessary to identify employees by name in the pay analysis; it is sufficient to use numbers or another form of anonymised identification.
A company or institution must first familiarize itself thoroughly with the requirements for obtaining equal pay certification.
The next step is to ensure that all necessary documents required for the application are in place.
An application cannot be submitted unless the organization's equality plan has been approved by the Directorate of Equality. Therefore, the ideal first step—if an approved equality plan is not already in place—is to submit the equality plan to the Directorate of Equality for approval.
The organisation then applies for equal pay certification by completing the application form in the Directorate of Equality’s Service Portal (Þjónustugátt) and ensuring that all required documentation is included.
No, that is not sufficient. An equality plan is not considered valid until it has been formally approved by the Directorate of Equality. Therefore, the first step in obtaining equal pay certification is to ensure that the company or institution has a valid, approved equality plan.
No. Companies and institutions that receive equal pay certification do not obtain the right to use the Equal Pay Symbol.
The Directorate of Equality maintains a registry of all companies and institutions that have obtained equal pay certification and publishes it in an accessible manner on its website.
No, that is not sufficient. The Directorate of Equality only accepts documents submitted through its Service Portal (Þjónustugátt).
No, such documents should not be included with the application for equal pay certification. However, it is always useful for organisations that are building an equal pay system to keep these documents available for reference.
Yes, the same requirements apply. The equal pay policy represents the organization's formal declaration of its approach to equal pay matters, and it is therefore natural that the requirements are identical for both routes.
New companies and institutions with 25–49 employees, based on the average number of staff over the year, must obtain equal pay certification within three years of their establishment.
If the average annual number of employees rises above 49 by the time the equal pay certification is due for renewal, the company or institution must obtain equal pay confirmation within three years from the point at which the employee count exceeded the specified threshold.
If a company that has obtained equal pay certification later decreases in size and its average annual number of employees falls below 25, it may choose whether or not to maintain its equal pay certification.
It is natural to consider the nature of the operation, job descriptions, and other employment-related documentation when determining objective and appropriate criteria.
Yes. All positions must be classified according to predefined, objective criteria.
According to the definition of who is considered an employee, the assessment is based on individuals who receive wages from the relevant company or institution, cf. item 13 of Article 2 of Act No. 150/2020. This includes, among others, owners, CEOs, and members of boards.
Job differentiation can vary between companies, and there may be objective and legitimate reasons for this, even though it is common for differentiation to be limited in small enterprises. Implementing job classification is one of the requirements for obtaining equal pay certification, and it cannot be omitted even if the level of differentiation is high and the company is small. The most effective approach is to use paired comparison when developing the job classification, applying the same criteria based on the demands of each position.
No, it is not necessary to carry out an internal audit.
There is no requirement to provide documentation showing a formal management review. However, the summary must include a description of performance in equal pay matters and which objectives have been achieved.
No. Icelandic is the language of the Icelandic public administration, and therefore only documents in Icelandic are accepted. Job titles may, however, be in English.
No, there is no legal provision allowing for an extension
No, there is no legal provision allowing an exemption from the requirement to obtain equal pay certification.
The average number of the employer’s employees, regardless of their employment percentage, who received wages during the previous calendar year. The annual average is calculated by adding together the number of employees for each month of the calendar year and dividing by twelve.
Particular attention must be paid to the legal status of individuals with a neutral gender registration in the National Registry. It is recommended that these individuals be recorded separately in the data, and that results be reviewed with them in mind. Data protection considerations must be respected, for example when presenting results related to gender‑based pay gaps to employees.
To apply for equal pay confirmation, you must log in to the Directorate of Equality’s service portal:
Login | Directorate of Equality Service Portal