The Quebec Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, does not intend to relax or modify Law 96, which notably forces foreign merchants to communicate with their Quebec customers in French, including during the purchase process on transactional sites. .
Bill 96 was passed by the National Assembly in May 2022. The government’s objective was to strengthen the status of the French language in Quebec.
The law makes significant changes to the Charter of the French language and applies to all companies that carry out activities in Quebec or have employees in Quebec. It also applies to e-commerce sites managed by businesses outside Quebec.
All of these companies must inform and serve their Quebec customers (consumers and non-consumers) in French. This includes communications with customers and employees, contracts, public display, etc.
In early August, La Presse reported that a dozen companies had stopped selling their products and services in the province due to its language policy, lack of resources or lack of interest. The extraterritorial scope of this law is not unanimous either.
Despite the specific provisions of the new law, Minister Roberge believes that “the current situation stems from the application of the Charter of the French language and not from the new law”. “In the short term, we do not plan to open the Charter of the French language to reduce the protections we offer in Quebec to be served in French,” he said.
In recent months, however, several foreign companies have decided to drop their Quebec clientele in order to avoid litigation or expose themselves to complaints. All invoked the entry into force of Law 96. Moreover, transactions in the travel industry are in theory threatened by the application of the law, since reservations for hotels, shows, monuments, etc. . are mostly in English.
Regarding this key sector of transactions concluded on the Internet, the Minister was reassuring.
“The Office québécois de la langue française only acts in these cases in the event of a complaint. The OQLF is not a language police that monitors all websites on the planet in case a site does business with a Quebec citizen. We are not in that process. On the other hand, more and more companies have tools to be able to serve the people of Quebec in French. For me, it’s not insurmountable. »
Interviewed by La Presse at the beginning of the month, Me Vincent de l’Etoile, of the firm Langlois Avocats, a specialist in international private law, was far from believing that the complaint process was self-evident.
“If someone were to complain about the service provided in a language other than French, the companies concerned would undoubtedly require that the complaints be filed in their territory, he said. The Charter of the French language and the Consumer Protection Act ensure that the contract is presumed to be concluded in Quebec and must be in French. But in England, for example, there is probably a similar law which states that the contract is presumed to be made in England and subject to English law…”
In short, we will have to wait for complaints and litigation to see how the courts of Quebec and the foreign countries concerned react.
