On June 1, 2022, the Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, known as Bill 96, amended the Charter of the French language. For a website, the basic rule is not new: what you offer the Quebec public must exist in French. What changed is that the Charter now states that the rule applies whatever the medium, websites and social media included. Here is what it requires, page by page, taken from the official texts and the guides of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF).
Key Takeaways
- Your website must be available in French; another language is allowed in addition
- The French version is complete, product pages included, and as easy to reach as the other one
- Forms, terms of sale, invoices and emails follow the same rule
- Your customers have the right to be served in French, by email and chat too
- The OQLF supports businesses and can order a correction; a fine comes from a court, after an order is not followed
This article summarizes public rules to help you prepare your website; it is not legal advice. The sections cited are those of the Charter as up to date on October 15, 2026.
French first, another language in addition
The core rule is section 52 of the Charter: "Regardless of the medium used, catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories, order forms and any other documents of the same nature that are available to the public must be drawn up in French." The same section adds: "No person may make such a document available to the public in a language other than French if the French version is not available on terms that are at least as favourable" (Charter of the French language, s. 52).
The OQLF confirms that the web is covered: commercial documentation must be drawn up at least in French whatever the medium, which includes websites and social media (OQLF reminder for doing business in French, in French). Your website does not have to be in French only: websites and social media must be available in French, but they can be in another language as well as French. The OQLF adds that Quebec customers must find in French the information about the products offered and what they need to buy them, such as the terms of sale and payment terms (Charter of the French language: myths and reality, OQLF, in French).
The rule is applied to websites. On September 4, 2026, the OQLF announced that a business whose website showed commercial content in another language only had been fined $3,000 by the Court of Québec for failing to comply with an order issued under the Charter. The notice points out that section 52 includes commercial publications posted on a website (Québec.ca, September 4, 2026, in French).
A complete French version that is easy to find
"At least as favourable" does not mean "somewhere on the site". The OQLF is specific: your website can be available in several languages, but all of its content must be offered in French, product pages included, and be of equivalent quality (OQLF fact sheet on websites, in French).
Two separate versions are allowed, one exclusively in French and the other in another language, "provided that the material presentation of the French version is available under no less favourable conditions of accessibility and quality than the version in the other language" (Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business, s. 10). For social media, the OQLF explains that people must not have to make an extra effort or take an extra step to reach the French version, such as changing the settings of their account or device (OQLF social media guide, in French).
On a website, we turn this into simple build rules:
- every page offered in English has a French page with the same content: text, prices, product pages, frequently asked questions;
- each language has its own URL (for example
/en/for English), linked to the other by hreflang tags. Google also recommends "using different URLs for each language version of a page rather than using cookies or browser settings to adjust the content language on the page" (Google Search Central); - the language link is visible on every page and leads to the same page in the other language;
- the French version depends neither on a browser setting nor on a hidden click;
- every translation is reviewed, since the OQLF asks for equivalent quality.
This is how we build bilingual websites in our web design service: its own URL and hreflang tags for each language.
A tip from the OQLF for content published in English, such as a blog post: ask yourself whether it is meant for your Quebec customers or useful to them. If so, it must be available in French (OQLF fact sheet, in French).
Forms, terms of sale and invoices
Order forms are on the list in section 52. On a website, the order or quote form, its help and error messages and its confirmation page are therefore part of the French version.
Contracts of adhesion, those whose clauses are imposed by one party and cannot be negotiated, are drawn up in French, along with their related documents. "The parties to such a contract may be bound only by its version in a language other than French if, after its French version has been remitted to the adhering party, such is their express wish" (s. 55). Since June 1, 2023, every new contract of adhesion must first be given in French. For a contract entered into through a website or an app, the OQLF states that the requirement is met when the applicable standard clauses in French are given to the adhering party, or when the tool is available in French and the French version of the contract can be accessed there (OQLF, contracts of adhesion, in French). If your terms of sale or service are accepted online without negotiation, check whether they fit this definition.
"Invoices, receipts, acquittances and other documents of the same nature must be drawn up in French." No one may send them in another language if the French version is not available to the recipient on terms that are at least as favourable (s. 57). This also covers the invoice or receipt your website emails after a purchase.
What the form must say about the information it collects comes under another law: see our guide Law 25 and your website. Are you a lender? Our loan application form guide also covers what to tell people when you collect their information.
Emails, chat and customer service
"Consumers of goods and services have a right to be informed and served in French" (s. 5), and a business must respect that right. "An enterprise that offers goods or services to a public other than consumers must inform and serve it in French" (s. 50.2).
According to the OQLF, this right applies before, during and after a transaction, and it covers customer service by email, chat and phone, voicemail, websites, social media and the invoices for an online purchase, among others (OQLF, service in French, in French). The OQLF reports that about a third of the complaints it receives concern a lack of service in French in businesses (OQLF reminder, in French).
On a website, this means: the confirmation email and the auto-reply exist in French, the chat tool or chatbot answers in French, and the error page (404) is translated like the rest.
Product pages, images and third-party documents
"Every inscription on a product, on its container or on its wrapping, or on a document or object supplied with it, including the directions for use and the warranty certificates, must be drafted in French." A translation is allowed, but no inscription in another language may be given greater prominence than the French one or be available on more favourable terms (s. 51). The directions for use or the warranty you offer as a PDF download follow the same rule.
Third-party content is covered too: according to the OQLF, the responsibility for publishing content in French lies with whoever makes the information available to the public (OQLF reminder, in French). Descriptions imported from a manufacturer, a supplier's spec sheets and the videos you embed are part of it. For social media, the OQLF also names videos and text inserted in an image (OQLF social media guide, in French); check the banners and images on your website the same way.
Trademarks, business name and domain name
The OQLF is clear: no one is ever asked to translate into French a trademark or a business name that is in another language. If a French version of the trademark exists, that is the one to use (myths and reality, OQLF, in French).
"Public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French. They may also be both in French and in another language provided that French is markedly predominant" (s. 58). A registered trademark may stay in another language there when no corresponding French version appears in the register (s. 58.1).
The text of the Charter does not mention domain names: its rules apply to the content offered to the public. Whether you have one domain or one domain per language, it is the French version of the content that must be complete and easy to reach.
What happens after a complaint
Anyone who feels their rights have been infringed can file a complaint with the OQLF (OQLF fact sheet, in French). When the OQLF finds a failure to comply, it may order the business to comply within the time it specifies (s. 177). Failing to comply with that order is an offence, punishable by a fine of $700 to $7,000 for a natural person and $3,000 to $30,000 in all other cases (s. 205). These amounts are doubled for a second offence and tripled for a subsequent offence (s. 207), and an offence that continues for more than one day is a separate offence for each day (s. 208.0.1).
The OQLF points out that it does not issue fines itself: the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions decides whether to prosecute, and the courts impose fines. Its approach, it writes, is based on supporting businesses rather than punishing them (myths and reality, OQLF, in French). It also offers free help to businesses that want to assess and improve their practices (OQLF fact sheet, in French).
A checklist for your website
- Every page offered in English exists in French, with the same content: text, prices, product pages, frequently asked questions.
- The French version opens with no extra effort: the language link is visible everywhere and leads to the matching page.
- Each language has its own URL and hreflang tags.
- Forms, their error messages and their confirmation pages are in French.
- Automatic emails, invoices and receipts sent by the website exist in French.
- Terms of sale or service accepted online can be read in French on the website.
- Chat and email support can be in French at all times.
- PDFs, supplier spec sheets, images and videos are in French.
- Social media posts have a French version that is at least equivalent; a bilingual ad gives French a markedly predominant place.
- The cookie banner and the privacy policy are in French, like the rest of the website.
What to check first
These items come from a tool or are added after launch: check first that they followed the website's translation.
- automatic emails: confirmation, auto-reply, receipt, password reset;
- form error messages and confirmation pages;
- the cookie banner and pop-ups supplied by an outside service;
- product pages and PDFs imported from a supplier;
- text built into images, banners and videos;
- the checkout page and the terms of sale;
- the language link, which should lead to the matching page rather than the home page.
Is your French version equivalent?
To find out, book a discovery call: we look at your website and its pages with you before making any recommendation. If the French version needs to be completed or rebuilt, our web design service builds bilingual websites with their own URL and hreflang tags for each language. Your legal texts, such as your terms of sale, stay yours: we add them as you or your legal adviser supply them.
To see where your website stands in search, get our free SEO audit. It covers the search optimization of the page analyzed, not the Charter.