Proposed Quebec language rules will lead to fewer products, higher prices: lawyer – Montreal [Video]

Proposed Quebec regulations that would require more French markings on consumer products will lead to fewer choices and higher costs for things such as home appliances, according to an industry group and a Montreal lawyer.

Under existing law, permanent markings — such as those that are engraved, embossed or welded — are permitted to be in a language other than French unless they are related to product safety.

But draft regulations released last month would end that exception and require French markings if they’re “necessary for the use of the product.”

That means on and off labels, hot and cold settings, or the various spin cycles on a washing machine, for example, would have to be labelled in French, said Eliane Ellbogen, a Montreal-based intellectual property lawyer with law firm Fasken.

Some of her clients, she said in an interview Monday, say they have no other choice but to leave …