On May 24, 2022, the National Assembly of Québec adopted Bill 96, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec (Bill 96). Bill 96 aimed to protect and strengthen Québec's cultural identity as a French-speaking province. On June 26, 2024, Québec published the Regulation to amend mainly the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (the Regulation), offering additional guidance and clarification. As an update to our 2022 article, further impacts of Bill 96 and the Regulation on trademarks in Québec are explained below.
Previous requirements
Previously, a non-French "recognized trademark" (i.e., a common law trademark, a registered trademark or a pending trademark, being a trademark for which an application for registration has been filed but registration has not yet been granted) was exempt from translation requirements, if there was no registered French version of the trademark. This applied to commercial advertising, public signs and posters and product packaging/labelling. For example, a registered or common law logo for a product sold in Québec could be displayed in English without a French translation if there was no registered French version of the trademark. However, French had to have a "sufficient presence" (i.e., a prominent display to the French accompanying the trademark) when advertised visibly outside a premise.
Requirements in effect as of June 1, 2025
As of June 1, 2025, recognized trademarks are still exempt where there is no corresponding French version on the Register of trademarks. However, if a generic term or description of the product (i.e., words describing the characteristic or nature of the good/service, excluding the name of the enterprise and the name of the product as sold) is included in an English language trademark on a product, the term or description must be in French on the product or on a medium permanently attached to the product. Further, the French must be as prominent as the other language, and on as favourable terms.
Public signs and posters and commercial advertising
On public signs or posters visible from outside premises, French must be markedly predominant if there is a non-French trademark or if the advertising includes an expression in another language. Marked predominance occurs when the French text has much greater visual impact than the text in another language by:
- Allotting twice as much space to the French text when compared to the text in another language; and
- Ensuring the French text's legibility and permanent visibility is equivalent to those of the text in another language.
For dynamic signs (i.e., digital displays that update their content in real time) that display French and another language in alternation, greater visual impact requires the French text to be displayed twice as long as the other language.
Product packaging and labelling
For product packaging and labelling, the Regulation carves out the name of an enterprise, the name of the product, distinctive names of a cultural nature, and designations of origin from the definitions of "description" and "generic term", such that these items may appear exclusively in English.
The Office Québécois de la langue française (OQLF) has provided visual guidance to assist with compliance of these requirements.
Compliance grace period
Non-compliant products can continue being distributed, sold, leased or offered for sale until June 1, 2027, provided that (a) they were manufactured before June 1, 2025, and(b) no French-language version of the trademark was registered before June 26, 2024.
Sanctions
Bill 96 further empowers the OQLF to verify compliance and has increased the penalties associated with non-compliance. Individuals may be liable for fines anywhere between CA$700 to CA$7,000 and businesses may be liable for fines between CA$3,000 and CA$30,000. Indeed, these fines can double for a second offence and tripled for subsequent offences. While the OQLF can investigate businesses any time, investigations are generally initiated after third-party complaints and, at least initially, usually attempt to encourage compliance rather than impose penalties. It is also noteworthy that fines can only be imposed after a court holds a business non-compliant and no fine in excess of CA$3,000 has been imposed to date.
Takeaways and next steps
While there is a grace period, businesses should proactively evaluate their trademark portfolios to ensure compliance with these requirements. Changes to marketing strategy, packaging, branding and advertising can often take considerable time and resources. Further, once compliant, businesses should be able to avoid the risk of regulatory penalties.
The authors would like to thank Fumi Shibutani for her assistance with this article.
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