Rules
How Bill 101 affects promotional distribution for Quebec marketers
Bill 101 promotional distribution Quebec rules explained: how the Office québécois de la langue française governs flyers, direct mail and promo products.
What to take away
- Bill 101 is Quebec's Charter of the French Language. It does not forbid English, but under section 58 public signs, posters and commercial advertising must be in French, and may carry another language only if French is markedly predominant.
- The Office québécois de la langue française enforces the Charter through inspections and public complaints.
- Flyers, inserts and unaddressed mail must carry French on the printed piece itself, not only on a website.
- Promotional products with instructions, warnings or ingredients take on French labelling duties on top of product safety rules.
- Build French into the creative brief. Translating up front costs less than a reprint after distribution.
What the Charter requires of promotional distribution
French has to be present, and it has to carry at least the same weight as any other language on the piece, as the Charter of the French Language sets out. It does not demand French only.
Two provisions do most of the work. Section 58 covers public signs, posters and commercial advertising: they must be in French, and another language may appear only if French is markedly predominant. Section 52 covers catalogues, brochures, folders, order forms and similar documents available to the public, and since Bill 96 it applies whatever the medium.
A piece that leads with English and drops French into a footnote fails either test. For a flyer that works as commercial advertising, give French the larger share of the space and the more prominent position, rather than stopping at equal type size.
French prominence in flyers
Compliant
- French placement
- Front and back
- Type size
- Equal to English
- Visual weight
- Same prominence
- Lead language
- French first
Non-compliant
- French placement
- Footnote only
- Type size
- Smaller than English
- Visual weight
- Subordinate
- Lead language
- English first
The duty follows the asset, not the head office address. A Toronto brand running a Montreal drop is bound the same way as a shop on Saint-Denis.
Exceptions exist for advertising in media aimed at one cultural community. They are narrow. Plan for French as the default.
What Bill 96 changed
Bill 96, cited as 2022, chapter 14, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, amended the Charter in ways that reach printed promotion directly:
- Section 52 now covers any medium.It applies "regardless of the medium used" to catalogues, brochures, folders, commercial directories, order forms and other documents of the same nature available to the public. A digital flyer and a printed one are the same document for this rule.
- No better terms for the other language.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. A free English catalogue next to a paid French one fails.
- Trademarks.Despite section 58, a trademark may appear only in another language in commercial advertising if it is registered under the federal Trademarks Act and no corresponding French version is on the register. On public signs and posters visible from outside premises, French must then be markedly predominant.
Marketers who buy street-level space should also read Quebec outdoor advertising rules, which connects the same Charter provisions to municipal permit questions.
What the Charter requires
| Asset | What French must do |
|---|---|
| Flyer or insert | Appear on the piece, with equal prominence when bilingual |
| Unaddressed mail | Envelope, wrap and insert all count as advertising |
| Branded merchandise | A logo alone is low risk; an English tagline needs French beside it |
| Packaging with warnings | French for instructions, warnings and warranties |
Who enforces the Charter, and what happens after a complaint
The Office québécois de la langue française administers the law. It runs inspections, takes complaints and can open a file without one.
Complaints are the usual trigger. One recipient who thinks a flyer shortchanges French can file, and the Office then reviews the piece, the distribution and the advertiser's record.
Remedies run from a notice and required correction to penal sanctions, which the Charter sets out in its title on penal provisions and sanctions.
The larger bill is usually the reprint and the second distribution.
Flyers and unaddressed direct mail
Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail is where language errors surface most often, because the piece is public and physical.
The envelope, the wrap and the insert all count when they promote a product, price or offer. A carrier with a logo and a sale date can trigger the requirement.
Addressed mail is read the same way in practice. Treat every mail piece as advertising and apply one French-first layout.
Format and weight decisions sit in this breakdown of Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail rates, which matters when a bilingual version pushes a piece into a heavier class.
The pre-print compliance checklist
- Confirm the piece is commercial advertising under the Charter, or a section 52 document such as a catalogue, brochure, folder or order form.
- If an English version is offered, make the French version available on terms at least as favourable.
- Check every trademarkregistered under the Trademarks Act, and is a French version on the register?
- Choose French only, or bilingual with French markedly predominant on advertising.
- Brief translator and designer together, using final copy and layout.
- Proof the French version alone, without the English beside it.
- Check packaging, inserts and product labels to the same standard.
- File versions, translator details, approvals and drop dates.
- Brief the distribution partner on what drops, where and when.
Pre-print compliance checklist
- French appears on the front of every flyer and mail piece
- French type size and placement match the other language
- Product instructions, warnings and warranties are in French
- Slogans and taglines have French equivalents
- Compliance file keeps versions, translator details and approvals
Promotional products and packaging
A plain tote bag is low risk. A bottle with care instructions, a food item with an ingredient list or a toy with a warning label is not. French must appear wherever the recipient keeps the text: packaging, inserts, care tags.
An English-only slogan is commercial advertising, so pair it with the French equivalent at matching size. A regulated product keeps its own labelling rules.
Health Canada's consumer product safety guidance covers regulated items, recalls and compliance duties that apply to giveaways.
Safety duties stack on top of language duties. Before ordering, check promotional product safety rules in Canada, because a correct French label still has to meet the underlying standard.
National campaigns: provincial and federal rules
Provincial language law governs the content of the piece. Federal law governs the conduct of the promotion, wherever it runs.
The Competition Bureau enforces rules against misleading advertising in every language. A French claim that overstates an offer is as actionable as an English one.
Privacy law applies when a promotion collects personal information through a reply card, a text entry or a sign-up; in Quebec that is the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, as amended by Law 25. Draft the French consent wording alongside the offer, not after it.
Contest terms in Quebec fall under the Act respecting lotteries, publicity contests and amusement machines, and refund rules under provincial consumer protection law, which national brands track through whichever statute covers the largest share of their buyers.
French usually reads better as original copy than as a literal translation. Bilingual promotional distribution in Montreal covers French creative and Canada Post handling in one place.
