Rules
Quebec Language Laws for Small Business Promotion: A Checklist
Quebec language laws small business promotion: the OQLF rules on French signage, ads and websites, plus the records that answer a complaint.
What to take away
- The Office quebecois de la langue francaise enforces the Charter of the French Language, and Quebec's promotion rules are provincial, not federal.
- French must be markedly predominant on outdoor signage, in commercial advertising and on websites aimed at Quebec buyers.
- A federally registered trademark does not exempt the rest of a sign, flyer or web page from carrying French.
- Inspectors can order corrections, and the Charter treats each day an offence continues as a separate offence.
- Keep proofs, supplier contracts and trademark records, because that paper trail is what answers a complaint.
Who enforces Quebec's language rules
The Office quebecois de la langue francaise, usually shortened to the OQLF, administers the Charter of the French Language. Most people still call the statute Bill 101, and the full text is published on the federal justice site.
Nothing in those obligations comes from Ottawa. A business can hold a valid federal trademark and still fail a provincial signage inspection, because the two systems answer different questions. Trademark law decides who owns the mark. The Charter decides what a customer standing in Quebec sees.
Quebec employers with 25 or more staff must register with the OQLF and work toward a francization certificate. Smaller operations stay out of that paperwork, but the signage and advertising rules apply at every size.
What a compliant sign or ad has to contain
For commercial signage, French must be markedly predominant. A shopper's eye should read French first, and French appearing somewhere on the panel is not the test. A sign split evenly between two languages usually fails.
Where a trademark appears in another language, French has to sit beside it and still dominate. Order forms, invoices, receipts and catalogues count as commercial documents, and each needs a French version offered on the same terms.
The same logic reaches temporary panels. A sidewalk sign promotion is still commercial signage, so the French message leads and the English follows.
| Touchpoint | French requirement | Frequent failure |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront fascia | Markedly predominant | English trademark alone on the panel |
| Window posters | French on every commercial message | French kept inside the store |
| Website | French reachable as easily as English | French hidden behind a small toggle |
| Invoices and order forms | Available in French | English form sent with no French option |
| Posts aimed at Quebec buyers | French included | One English caption reused in every province |
Every format answers the same test, from fascia letters to printed signage bolted onto a wall.
Markedly predominant is a visual test. A small French line under a large English headline does not pass it.
Records to keep and paperwork to expect
Language decisions sit inside the wider set of choices about how a business presents itself, the ground covered in Small Business Branding. What the OQLF asks for is narrower: evidence of what ran, where, and in which language.
- Print proofs and sign proofs showing the French version
- Contracts and purchase orders with printers, sign makers and agencies
- Dated screenshots of the French web pages
- Trademark registration certificates from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office
- French invoices, order forms and catalogue pages
Temporary formats such as A-frames, banners and window decals belong in the same folder.
What happens if you do not comply
An OQLF inspector can visit without an appointment, review signage and documents, and issue a notice with a deadline for correction. The Charter allows fines, and each day an offence continues counts as a separate offence. One complaint can start that clock.
If the sign is already manufactured, the fix means a new run and a second installation.
Example: reading a sign the way an inspector would
Take a storefront panel where the registered trademark is an English word and the tagline underneath is in French. The tagline cannot be smaller than the English mark. If the two lines match in size, the sign fails the markedly predominant test and needs a redesign.
Where the rules differ by place
Quebec is the only province with a French-language commercial signage regime. New Brunswick guarantees bilingual services from government, not from shopfronts. Municipal bylaws layer on top, so Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau each add rules about size and placement.
Provincial law governs the message, while choosing where to run it is a separate exercise, covered in Local Advertising. A promotional email sent across Canada also has to satisfy anti-spam consent rules, which the Government of Canada explains, whatever the sign outside says.
Common questions
Do the language rules apply to a business based outside Quebec? They follow the message. If a flyer or website is aimed at Quebec buyers, the French rules apply to that material, even when the company is registered in Ontario.
Does a registered trademark keep an English-only sign legal? No. Where a non-French trademark appears on public signage, French must accompany it and stay predominant. Bill 96 tightened that exception, and the signage provision took effect in June 2025.
Do we need a French version of our website? Yes, if you sell or promote to Quebec customers. The French version must be reachable in a way at least as favourable as the English one, which rules out a toggle buried in the footer. The consent side of the same mailing list is covered in Email Marketing Runs on Permission.
What penalty follows a first offence? The Charter sets the fines and the OQLF issues the notice that starts the clock. Each day of continued non-compliance counts as a separate offence, so the total grows while a sign stays unchanged.
