Bill 96 (officially Law 14, but everyone calls it Bill 96) modified Quebec’s French Language Charter in 2022, with most provisions in effect by 2025. For business websites specifically, there’s been a lot of confusion about what’s actually required. This is the clear version.
Disclaimer first
This is not legal advice. For specific compliance questions about your business, consult a Quebec lawyer specializing in language law. What follows is general guidance based on what’s been published and what Quebec businesses we work with have implemented.
What Bill 96 actually requires for websites
If your business operates in Quebec and serves Quebec customers, your website must:
- Have French content available. Not as an afterthought translation — as substantive content equivalent to the other language.
- Default to French for Quebec users. When a Quebec user visits, they should be able to access the French version easily (auto-detection or prominent language switcher).
- Be at least as available in French as in any other language. If you have 50 pages in English, you need ~50 pages in French. Not 5 token French pages while everything else is English.
- Use French as the dominant language in B2C contexts. Customer-facing communication and marketing materials default to French.
What Bill 96 doesn’t require
- French-only. You can serve other languages. French just has to be equivalent or dominant.
- ‘Quebec French’ specifically (versus other French variants). The law cares about French being present, not which French. (We still recommend Quebec French for cultural authenticity, but it’s not legally required.)
- Specific URL structures. /fr/ subdirectory, fr.example.com subdomain, .ca/.qc.ca domain — all acceptable.
- Automatic detection. Easy language switching is enough; you don’t need IP detection.
Common misconceptions
- ‘Bill 96 means French-only.’ No. Other languages are allowed; French has to be equivalent or dominant.
- ‘Google Translate counts as French.’ No — and the OQLF (the language office) has explicitly said machine translation often fails the equivalence test.
- ‘Bill 96 only applies to businesses based in Quebec.’ No — it applies to any business doing commerce in Quebec, regardless of headquarters location. A Toronto agency selling to Quebec customers has Bill 96 obligations.
- ‘I just need a French homepage.’ No — equivalence applies to the whole site, not just homepage.
How to comply
Practical steps for Quebec businesses:
- Use WPML or Polylang for bilingual WordPress
- Set up hreflang properly so Google serves the right language
- Have a visible language switcher in the header (not buried in footer)
- Use native-quality Quebec French translation, not Google Translate
- Maintain content parity — every English page has a French equivalent
- Make French at least as prominent in marketing communications
What it costs
Adding bilingual support to an existing English-only site: cost depends on size + translation needs — we scope it per project. Building a bilingual site from scratch: ~30-50% more than a monolingual site (translation work + slightly more structure). See our Web Design service — every site we build is bilingual by default at no extra cost (translation is separate).