Proposed Quebec language rules will lead to fewer products, higher prices: lawyer

A Montreal lawyer says proposed Quebec language regulations will lead to fewer choices and higher costs for products like home appliances.

The draft regulations released last month require manufacturers to translate into French all permanent markings on appliances that are necessary for the use of the products.

This would include product inscriptions like the words “on,” “off,” “hot,” “cold,” “rinse,” or “spin.”

Under current law, permanent markings, such as those that are engraved on or welded to appliances, don’t have to be in French unless they’re related to safety.

“What changes with Bill 96 and the draft regulation as it’s currently drafted is that those permanent product inscriptions, the ones that are engraved, riveted to a product, now all of the product inscriptions that are necessary for the use of the product have to also be translated,” said Eliane Ellbogen, a Montreal-based intellectual property lawyer with law firm Fasken.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers says the vast majority of appliances on the market aren’t compliant with the new rules.

Ellbogen says the implication is that the province of Quebec would need its own supply chain.

“This regulation would affect not only home appliances, but all consumer goods, all goods that are sold in Quebec,” she said.

“What we’re hearing is that for small and large appliances, it could take up to three years to alter a supply chain, to redesign a product, go through the manufacturing process, delivery, etc.”

Ellbogen says the rules would enter into effect 15 days after they are adopted, making them virtually impossible to comply with in time.

“It’s almost comical,” the lawyer said. “At that point, why give the 15 days? It’s essentially like not providing any grace period to comply.”

Ellbogen says the proposed rules could lead to delays and higher costs as manufactures replace their current offerings with compliant products.

“It will be more difficult to service your appliances to get replacement parts, for example, and there will just essentially be less goods available on the market,” she said.

She adds that some of her clients are planning to pull out of the province entirely.

“Ultimately what it means is that some product manufacturers, not only in the home appliance sector, but across all sectors, they may end up leaving the Quebec market,” she said.

A spokesman for French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge says the percentage of appliances with French-language markings has been steadily declining since the 1970s and that in other countries, manufacturers sell products with markings in the local language.