Trademark Compliance In The Wake Of Bill 96

Overview of Bill 96

Bill 96, an amendment to the Charter of the French Language ("Charter") in Quebec, aims to reinforce the use of French in business settings. This bill affects anyone distributing, selling, renting, or otherwise marketing a product in Quebec.

Bill 96 takes effect on June 1, 2025. Organizations can sell non-compliant products until June 1, 2027, provided that the non-compliant products were manufactured outside of Quebec before June 1, 2025.

Trademark Compliance

Product Inscriptions & Trademarks

Bill 96 requires that all product inscriptions be in French. Optionally, inscriptions in other languages may also be included provided that the text in any other language is not given greater prominence than the text in French. For example, the other language(s) cannot appear in larger text and cannot be more easily visible on the product (e.g., the French text cannot be more difficult to find, such as on the bottom of the product). This applies