Clients would have preferred more time to prepare compliance, says Gowlings' Melissa Tehrani
The final version of new regulations applying Quebec’s new language law to marketing and advertising have clarified some confusion, but uncertainty remains, says Melissa Tehrani, leader of the national advertising and product regulatory group at Gowling WLG.
The Quebec government revealed the final version of the “Regulation to amend mainly the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business” on June 26. The province amended the regulations as a result Bill 96, which altered 28 different statutes, including the Charter of the French language and the Consumer Protection Act. The final regulation comes in force June 1, 2025.
Tehrani says the final draft clarifies confusion that arose from wording in the draft regulations on the “markedly predominant” threshold for commercial advertising and signage. Under Bill 96, French text on commercial advertising and signage must have greater visual impact. The draft version of the regulation said the French text must be twice as large. The confusion concerned whether it was the size of the French elements, or the area occupied by French text that must be twice as large.
The visual aids Quebec released in January suggested either could work, she says. The final draft of the regulations now clarifies that the space allotted to the French text must be twice as large as the space occupied by text in any other language.
“Conceivably, if you have a non-French trademark, the font size of that non-French trademark could be larger than the French text, so long as the French elements that are added within that same visual field, when combined, take up twice the space of the non-French trademark.”
The regulations also clarify the rules with respect to dynamic signage, where English and French text is alternately displayed. One example of dynamic signage is digital screens.
On digital screens, the focus is not on the area occupied by French text, but on the duration the French text will be visible, says Tehrani.
“The two-thirds rule will be maintained, whereby the French needs to be visible at least twice as long as the English version of the signage.”
One area she says is yet to be sufficiently clarified is product packaging and labelling. Quebec has reinstated an exemption for the translation rules for trademarks. However, “generic or descriptive terms” within a recognized trademark must be translated to French. In the final regulations, Quebec has carved out the named of the enterprise or “name of the product as sold,” which Tehrani says could be interpreted “quite broadly.” She says it is unclear whether the name of the product as sold is supposed to only capture primary brands or could extend to secondary brands and the name of product lines.
“Ultimately, until we have further clarity and guidance on that many of our clients remain in a holding pattern with less than 11 months left on the clock to come into compliance.”
“On the product packaging and labelling side, with the significant lead times that are involved, clients are revising their product artwork live in order to meet the June 1, 2025, compliance deadline,” she says. “… With the lingering uncertainty regarding that carve out for the ‘name of the product as sold,’ many of our clients are understandably feeling quite overwhelmed with compliance.”
In addition to greater clarity on the carve out, Tehrani says many businesses were hoping for an extension of the compliance grace period. The bill was introduced three years ago, but following the final draft of the regulations, clients will only have 11 months to adapt.
Tehrani practises in Montreal.
