Website legal requirements in Quebec: a checklist for small businesses

For a typical business site, four sets of rules come up. The first two cover almost every business; the other two only apply to some activities.

• The Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96: the language of your site
• Law 25, which modernized Quebec's private-sector privacy act: forms, cookies and your privacy policy
• The Consumer Protection Act, if you advertise prices or sell online to consumers
• Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), if you send commercial emails or a newsletter

A business operating in Quebec must offer its website in French. According to the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), consumers have the right to a complete French version. An English version is still allowed, as long as French is at least equivalent: the same information, just as easy to find.

Secondary pages count too: terms of sale, privacy policy, FAQ, error messages and automated emails. If you sell online, your terms of sale must be offered in French before any other language. According to the law firm Smart & Biggar, fines for a business range from $3,000 to $30,000 per offence. Our Bill 96 guide covers these rules in detail.

Law 25 applies to any business that collects personal information about people in Quebec, and a plain contact form is enough to collect it. The title and contact details of the person in charge of protecting personal information must be published on your site, along with a privacy policy written in clear and simple terms.

For technology that can identify, locate or profile a person, such as advertising cookies, the Commission d'accès à l'information (CAI) says these functions must be off by default: the person has to turn them on. In practice, most sites therefore need a consent tool. The CAI can impose administrative penalties of up to $10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover. Our Law 25 guide walks through each step.

If your site shows prices to consumers, section 224 of the Consumer Protection Act requires an all-inclusive price: the total the customer will pay, except GST and QST. The Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) says the rule covers every advertised price, online included. A partial price, such as a monthly payment, can only be advertised if the total price is shown more prominently.

If you sell online, the law treats the sale as a distance contract. According to the Quebec government, these rules give the merchant disclosure duties before the purchase and give the consumer a right to cancel if the merchant doesn't meet them. They apply to any merchant doing business in Quebec, wherever it is based. The information to provide includes the total amount payable and the conditions for cancellation, returns, exchanges or refunds. For an online store, have a lawyer check the full list.

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation covers commercial electronic messages: newsletters, promotions and follow-up emails. According to the CRTC, every message must meet three requirements: you have the person's consent, you identify yourself with your contact details, and you include an unsubscribe option that works.

Consent can be express, like a box the person ticked, or implied in some cases, like an existing business relationship. According to federal guidance, implied consent from a purchase generally lasts two years, and from an inquiry, six months. Unsubscribe requests must be processed within 10 business days. This fits with Law 25 as well: a separate newsletter checkbox, never pre-ticked.

If you are a construction contractor, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) requires your licence number on your website and social media, written as “RBQ licence: XXXX-XXXX-XX”. The same rule covers your ads, quotes, contracts and invoices. The RBQ does, however, prohibit displaying its logo or the Quebec flag. Our article on plumber websites shows where to put the number.

These points cover a brochure site or a small online store. A business in a regulated industry (health, finance, alcohol) often has extra rules.

• Every page exists in French, with the same content as the English version
• Terms of sale, return policy and privacy policy are in French
• The privacy policy is published, up to date and lists the tools you really use
• The title and contact details of the person in charge of personal information are on the site
• Advertising and profiling cookies stay off until the visitor accepts them
• Forms ask only for what you need and explain what the data is for
• Advertised prices are all-inclusive, plus taxes
• The newsletter has its own checkbox, and every email has a working unsubscribe link
• If you are a construction contractor, your RBQ licence number is displayed

For a bilingual brochure site with a contact form, the checklist above covers the essentials. An online store, sensitive data, data transfers outside Quebec or a regulated industry deserve legal advice.

At Kollowo, we build bilingual websites designed for Bill 96 and Law 25: equivalent French and English versions, a privacy policy, a consent tool and forms that ask only for what they need. A site costs between 1,000 and 2,000 CAD, and our pricing page lists what it includes.