Bilingual website in Québec: what Law 25 and the French language rules require

A website for a Québec business is not just a design project. Two sets of rules shape it from the first wireframe: the Charter of the French language and Law 25 on the protection of personal information. Ignore them and you risk complaints, fines and a redesign. Build them in from the start and they cost very little.

This guide covers what every small and medium-sized business should check before launching or redesigning a site. It is practical guidance, not legal advice: for edge cases, ask a lawyer.

French comes first

The Charter of the French language, as amended in 2022, requires businesses in Québec to make their commercial information available in French. For a website, that means:

• Every page that sells, informs or collects information exists in French.
• The French version is at least as complete and as easy to reach as any other language. An English homepage with a small "FR" link to a partial translation does not meet the bar.
• Forms, error messages, confirmation emails, terms and conditions and cookie banners are in French too.

A bilingual site is still a strong choice in Montréal: many clients search in English. The point is that French is never the lesser version.

How to structure a bilingual site for SEO

Language rules and SEO point in the same direction. Google needs to understand which page serves which language, and that only happens when each language has its own URL.

• One URL per language. For example /services/ in English and /fr/services/ in French. Avoid switching languages with a script on the same URL: Google indexes only one version.
• hreflang tags that link each page to its translation (fr-CA, en-CA). They tell Google to show the French page to French searchers.
• Translated slugs, titles and meta descriptions. "/fr/web-design/" is a missed opportunity; "/fr/sites-internet/" matches what people type.
• Real localization, not machine translation. Québec French has its own vocabulary: "courriel", "soumission", "magasiner". Searchers notice, and so do conversion rates.

Law 25: what your website must do

Law 25 came into force in stages between 2022 and 2024. Several obligations show up directly on your website.

A person in charge of personal information

Every business has a person in charge of the protection of personal information. By default it is the person with the highest authority, often the owner, who can delegate the role in writing. Their title and contact details must be published on your website.

A privacy policy written in plain language

If you collect personal information through your site (a contact form is enough), you must publish a policy that explains, in clear terms, what you collect, why, how long you keep it and who to contact.

Tracking is off until people say yes

Technologies that can identify, locate or profile a visitor, such as analytics and advertising cookies, must be turned off by default. The visitor has to activate them. In practice, that means a cookie banner where refusing is as easy as accepting, and analytics that only load after consent.

Consent on forms

Each form should say what the information will be used for. If you plan to follow up with marketing emails or AI-assisted replies, say so next to the checkbox.

Penalties are serious: administrative penalties can reach $10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover, and penal fines up to $25 million or 4%. Most small businesses will never face that, but a complaint to the Commission d'accès à l'information is enough to force costly changes.

A launch checklist

Before your bilingual site goes live, check:

1. Every page exists in French, with equivalent content.
2. Each language has its own URL, title, description and hreflang tags.
3. The cookie banner blocks analytics and ads until consent, with a one-click refusal.
4. The privacy policy is published and linked from every page.
5. The person in charge of personal information is named, with contact details.
6. Forms explain how the information will be used.
7. The site loads fast on mobile: most local searches happen on a phone.

How NeoLabs builds it in

Every site we design is bilingual from the architecture up, with French and English URLs, hreflang, Consent Mode V2 and a Law 25-ready privacy setup included, not added later. See how we approach it on our web design page, or contact us for a free review of your current site.