Quebec’s language laws changed this week: Here’s what you need to know

The Charter of the French Language (the ‎‎"Charter”) guarantees French language rights and mandates the use of French in many business ‎contexts in the province of Quebec. An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec (“Bill 96”)‎, implemented significant changes to the Charter, with many of its provisions coming into force on June 1, 2022, while others took effect over the following three years.

As of June 1, 2025, a new set of obligations came into force. These include enhanced requirements regarding the use of French on product inscriptions, public signs and posters, and commercial advertising. In addition, the threshold triggering mandatory registration with the Office québécois de la langue française (the “OQLF”) and the associated Francization process has been lowered.

Amendments to the regulation respecting the language of commerce and business

On January 10, 2024, the Government of Quebec proposed additional changes to Quebec’s French language requirements through the Regulation to amend mainly the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (the “Draft Regulation”). However, these changes were either withdrawn or scaled down in the final version of the Regulation to amend mainly the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (the “Final Regulation”), published on June 26, 2024, in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

The Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (as amended by the Final Regulation) eases some of the demanding obligations introduced by Bill 96. The purpose of the Final Regulation is to clarify the rules established by Bill 96, with respect to trademarks, inscriptions on products and related documents, public signs and posters and commercial advertising. Additionally, the Final Regulation introduces further guidelines pertaining to contracts of adhesion in Quebec.

Inscriptions on products

The Charter requires that all inscriptions on products sold in Quebec be in French and that no other language have greater prominence than French on those products. A “product” includes its container, wrapping, accompanying documents, or any object supplied with it, including the directions for use and warranty certificates.

With the exception of safety-related information, which must always be translated into French, labelling that is permanently engraved, baked, inlaid, riveted, welded to, or embossed on products manufactured outside Quebec is not required to be translated into French.

Since June 1, 2025, all trademarks recognized under the Trademarks Act, whether registered or not, can be displayed on a product exclusively in a language other than French, as long as no corresponding French version appears in the register kept under the Trademarks Act. The product name may remain in a language other than French since June 1, 2025.

However, if a generic term or product description is included with a trademark, it must appear in French on the product or on a medium permanently attached to the product. These trademark requirements also extend to the product’s container or wrapping, as well as to any document or object supplied with it.

In accordance with the Final Regulation, a “description” refers to one or more words describing the characteristics of a product; and a “generic term” refers to one or more words describing the nature of a product. The Final Regulation further clarifies that the name of an enterprise and the name of the product as sold, as well as designations of origin and distinctive names of a cultural nature, are not considered a “description” or a “generic term” and are therefore not subject to translation.

While the above-mentioned changes came into effect on June 1, 2025, non-compliant products manufactured before June 1, 2025, may still be distributed and sold in Quebec until June 1, 2027. This is provided that no corresponding French version of the product’s recognized trademark was registered as of June 26, 2024, as defined by the Trademarks Act.

Public signs and posters and commercial advertising

Generally, commercial advertising and public signs and posters must be in French. Other languages may appear on these signs, posters, and in commercial advertising, provided that the French version is “markedly predominant”. French is “markedly predominant” where the text in French has a much greater visual impact than the text in the other language. More specifically, for the French text to have a “much greater visual impact” than the text in another language in public signs and posters, the space allotted to the French text must be, within the same visual field, at least twice as large as the space allotted to the text in another language, and the French text’s legibility and permanent visibility must be equivalent to those of the text in another language. A “same visual field” refers to an overall view where all the components of the public signs and posters and commercial advertising are visible and legible at the same time without having to move.

Similar to product inscriptions, as of June 1, 2025, trademarks on public signs and posters and in commercial advertising, may only be in a language other than French, provided that the trademark is recognized within the meaning of the Trademarks Act (i.e., registered or not) and no corresponding French version appears in the register kept according to the Trademarks Act. This also marks a reversal of what was included by the legislator in the Charter as amended by Bill 96, where trademarks on public signs, posters, and in commercial advertising could be in a language other than French only if the trademark was registered under the Trademarks Act and no corresponding French version appeared in the Trademarks Act’s register.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, on public signs and posters visible from outside premises (e.g., storefront signage), a recognized trademark in a language other than French must nevertheless be accompanied by French terms that are “markedly predominant”. To ensure that French is markedly predominant, public signs and posters of a trademark or an enterprise’s name visible from outside premises must be accompanied by terms in French (i.e., a generic term, a description of the relevant products or services, or a slogan).

Contracts of adhesion

As of June 1, 2023, non-negotiable contracts predetermined by one party (i.e., contracts of adhesion), as well as their related documents must be drawn up in French and presented to the adhering party in French first. The Final Regulation defines “related documents” as documents attesting to the existence of the contract, such as insurance certificates; documents whose attachment to the contract is required by law, such as resiliation or resolution forms; or documents that otherwise constitute ancillary documents.

When it comes to contracting by telephone or online, the Final Regulation further outlines how parties can comply with the requirement to provide a French version of such a contract of adhesion concluded by telephone or through technological means. Although most of the Final Regulation’s requirements came into force on June 1, 2025, the requirements governing these contracts have been in force since July 11, 2024.

Francization registration requirements

The Charter, as amended by Bill 96, now provides that Francization requirements will apply when a company employs 25 persons or more in Quebec. Companies with more than 25 employees for a period of six months had to register with the OQLF by June 1, 2025. Companies will have three months after confirmation of registration to complete their analysis of the linguistic situation (i.e., evaluating of the status of the French language within their organization).

This means that companies with 25 or more employees must prepare an analysis of their linguistic situation, which involves evaluating the use of French within the workplace and identifying any areas that may require improvement. We are pleased to offer our support throughout this process.

For more information or inquiries about French language requirements for companies doing business in Quebec, please contact one of the DLA Piper (Canada) LLP Quebec authors of this bulletin.