Over the past few years, the Québec government has shown a renewed interest in establishing robust protections for consumers within the province. As part of this project, Bill 29, An Act to protect consumers from planned obsolescence and to promote the durability, repairability and maintenance of goods introduced a new regime of administrative monetary penalties (“AMPs”) for objectively observable failures to comply with the Québec Consumer Protection Act (the “CPA”) as well as increasing the fines for non-compliance with the Act.
In December 2024, the Québec government enacted two related regulations that (with the exception of a few provisions) took effect on January 5, 2025:
- The Regulation respecting monetary administrative penalties with respect to the Consumer Protection Act; and
- The Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the application of the Consumer Protection Act.
New Administrative Monetary Penalties
Under the new regime of administrative monetary penalties, the Office de la protection du consommateur (“OPC”) may directly intervene in certain cases of objectively observable failures to comply with the CPA or the Regulation respecting the Application of the Consumer Protection Act (the “Regulations”). Going forward, if the OPC issues a notice of non-compliance and the business refuses to take the necessary measures to remedy the failure, the OPC may impose AMPs on the business. A non-exhaustive list of situations in which the OPC may issue notices of non-compliance include cases where merchants, manufacturers or advertisers:
- Liberate themselves or their representatives from the consequences of their own acts (e.g., via an exclusion of liability clause);
- Give themselves the right to decide that the consumer has failed to satisfy her obligations, without expressly indicating in the contract the circumstances that constitute a default;
- Require the consumer to submit disputes to arbitration or restrict the consumer’s right to go before a court (e.g., prohibiting the consumer from bringing or participating in a class action);
- Impose costs on the consumer that are not clearly set out in the contract;
- Impose a penalty on the consumer for non-performance of her obligation (unless an exception applies);
- Subject the governance of the contract to a law other than those of Québec or the federal laws of Canada
- Draft the contract and related documents in a language other than French or require the consumer to pay for the French version of the contract and related documents;
- Make false or misleading representations to a consumer; or
- Charge a higher price for a good or service than what was advertised.
The OPC may also impose AMPs on businesses who contravene provisions of the CPA or the Regulations relating to the form of contracts, and specific types of contracts, such as long-term leases, loyalty programs, prepaid cards, and credit contracts.
Penalties can amount to up to $1,750 for individuals and up to $3,500 for businesses. They may be imposed daily for as long as the non-compliance continues. Directors and officers of a corporation can be held solidarily liable alongside the corporation for the payment of the imposed penalty, unless they establish that they exercised due diligence to prevent the non-compliance.
These provisions came into effect on January 5, 2025.
Increased Penal Fines
Fines for non-compliance with the Regulations have also been increased to between $5,000-$175,000 for corporations. To determine the amount of the fine, courts can take into account the following factors, among others: (i) the size of the company; (ii) the steps the business took to prevent the offence or mitigate its consequences; (iii) the gains derived by the businesses from the offence; (iv) the losses caused to consumers; (v) the number of consumers impacted; and the business’s past conduct.
Fines are doubled for subsequent violations. If a corporation commits the offense, its directors, officers or agents are presumed to have committed it unless they can demonstrate that they exercised due diligence to prevent the offense.
The provisions relating to fines took effect on January 5, 2025.
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