This guide is not legal advice. It summarizes the Charter of the French language as amended in 2022; confirm how it applies to your project with your legal counsel.
What changed in 2022
Bill 96, now An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec (2022, c. 14), amended the Charter of the French language. For construction, the changes that matter most are the rules on contracts with the civil administration, contracts of adhesion and product documents.
Working for a public owner in Quebec
The civil administration includes the Government and its departments, government bodies, municipalities and their bodies, public transit authorities and school bodies (Schedule I of the Charter).
- Contracts are in French only. Contracts entered into by the civil administration, including the related sub-contracts, are drawn up exclusively in French (section 21).
- So are the documents around them. The rule extends to documents sent to the civil administration to enter into a contract, documents related to the contract, and documents the parties send each other under it (section 21.3).
- Services are rendered in French. When an agency obtains services from an enterprise, it requires that they be rendered in French (section 21.11).
- The exceptions are narrow. A version in another language may be attached, for example, when the contracting party does not reside in Quebec or has its head office in a State where French is not an official language (section 21.4).
For a design team, that reaches the sub-consultant agreement, the bid, and the documents exchanged during the project.
Contracts between private parties
- Contracts of adhesion (contracts pre-determined by one party) and their related documents are drawn up in French. The parties may be bound by another language only after the French version has been given to the adhering party and it expressly wishes so (section 55). A contract negotiated between the parties is not a contract of adhesion.
- Product documents. Inscriptions on a product and the documents supplied with it, including directions for use and warranties, are in French (section 51).
- Catalogues and brochures available to the public are drawn up in French (section 52), and invoices too (section 57).
- At work, employers use French in written communications with their staff and in training documents (section 41).
What it means for your documents
If your client is a Quebec public body, assume the contract, the bid and the project documents go out in French. If your firm works in English, the French versions have to exist, use the same terms from the bid to the last drawing, and be ready on the date the contract requires them. Nobody should have to correct the same French term twice to get there. Done right, the French versions go out on the contract date and your engineers review them in minutes, not hours.
That is the work Technitrad has done since 1987: construction documents between English and French, under ISO 17100 and CAN/CGSB-131.10, the Canadian standard for translation services.
Issue your French versions with one set of terms
Upload a recent French deliverable, a document or an AutoCAD drawing, and we return a short report of every inconsistent term in it, free and confidential.
Need the French versions themselves? Request a quote for your contract, bid and project documents. We answer within one business day.