Commercial display | French must occupy two thirds of the facades and windows

(Quebec) Businesses that have a storefront in Quebec have until 1^er June 2025 to adjust their commercial signage so that French occupies at least two thirds of the facades and windows.

The Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, clarified on Friday the scope of Law 14 on French (formerly Bill 96), adopted in 2022, and which provides that “French must appear clearly predominant » in the public display visible from outside a premises.

By regulation, Quebec now specifies that “clearly predominant” means two-thirds of a window. For all businesses, the cost of complying with this new requirement is estimated between 7 and 15 million by the government. According to Mr. Roberge, the new regulations, which clarify Bill 14, facilitate a common understanding on the part of the industry regarding the linguistic requirements that they must respect.

Concretely, a company whose trademark is in a language other than French could add descriptions, a slogan or other information in the language of Molière, to ensure compliance with the law. For example, Second Cup coffees would not have to become “second cups”, it is explained. However, they could specify that they sell pastries, tea and other products, so that the French display takes up two-thirds of the window.

According to Quebec, the “vast majority of businesses” already respect this new regulation, which will come into force in 18 months. The government claims to have collaborated with entrepreneurs and chambers of commerce, among others, so that its regulatory reform is “applicable”.

In a memorandum submitted last December to the Council of Ministers, in anticipation of the regulatory changes which were published Wednesday in the Official Gazette, the Ministry of the French Language recalls that the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) assessed in 2017 that “French was minimally present (at least one word) in general signage in a proportion of 94.1% » on the island of Montreal. The OQLF also noted that 65% of the messages observed in public displays in the metropolis (company names and other messages) were written in French, while “7.8% were in both English and in French and 5.1% were exclusively in English.”

“According to data collected in 2017, on the entire island of Montreal, the compliance rate for general signage was 77.5%, which means that 22.5% of businesses were non-compliant. The compliance rate has increased compared to 2010, when it was around 72%,” specifies the brief.