ERP Quebec French language requirements under Bill 96

Quebec employees have a right to work in French, at any size, under Charter section 4. When a French version of the ERP exists, Charter section 52.1 requires it to be available, and the OQLF tells employers to install it by default. Section 57 requires invoices and receipts to be drawn up in French. A firm that employs 25 or more persons in Quebec for six months must register with the OQLF, and for firms of 25 to 49 that duty took effect on June 1, 2025. Business Central French (Canada), fr-CA, is a separate language from French (France), and Odoo ships French as code fr.

These are separate duties. The right to work in French, and the duty to inform and serve in French, are written for the enterprises the sections name. The OQLF registration file is the additional step once you employ 25 persons in Quebec for six months. A Quebec lawyer confirms how the sections apply to your company, including employers under federal jurisdiction and contracts with people outside Quebec.

What Quebec employers owe their staff

Bill 96, An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec, was assented to on June 1, 2022. It amends the Charter of the French Language, CQLR c. C-11. BLG states that the labour-relations amendments it summarizes, including section 41, came into force on that assent date.

Section 41 is the employment list. Training documents produced for the staff are on that list, so the French quick-reference for the ERP belongs with the employment documents. The duties, as consolidated in English:

• Published offers of employment, transfer or promotion: Drawn up in French
• Written individual employment contract: Drawn up in French
• Written communications with staff, including after employment ends: French, and the employer may write to one worker in another language only if that worker has asked for it
• Application forms, documents on conditions of employment, and training documents produced for the staff: Available in French on terms at least as favorable as any other language

A rollout that trains only in English leaves the last row on you. The French quick-reference sheet for order entry, receiving and invoicing has to exist, and a colleague who prefers English cannot be given a better copy than the French one. Terms at least as favorable means the French version is as easy to get, and as current, as the English deck.

Section 46 limits when a job can require a language other than French. The employer may require that knowledge to obtain or keep a job only when the duties require it, and only after taking all reasonable means to avoid the requirement. The offer has to state the reasons. Section 46.1 treats the employer as having skipped those means if it did not assess the real language needs of the work, check that existing staff could not cover them, and limit how many roles need the other language. The statute says that test is not a reason to force an unreasonable reorganization.

An English-speaking owner who hires outside Quebec still writes the Quebec offer under that test. If a Quebec clerk must read English supplier emails, the posting says so, and it says why the work cannot be arranged so that a French-speaking colleague handles those emails. Counsel reviews the wording before it goes out.

What you owe the people you sell to

Section 5 gives consumers of goods and services the right to be informed and served in French. Section 50.2, added by Bill 96, extends the operational rule: any enterprise that offers goods or services to consumers must respect that right, and an enterprise that offers goods or services to a public other than consumers must inform and serve that public in French. A distributor selling to other businesses is in the second sentence. Headcount is not the trigger on this section.

Customer documents have their own sections. Read them against the layout you send.

• Invoices, receipts, acquittances and similar documents (Section: 57 · What the text requires: Drawn up in French. Sending one only in another language is allowed when the French version is available to the recipient on terms at least as favorable)
• Order forms and documents of the same nature available to the public, including catalogues and brochures (Section: 52 · What the text requires: Drawn up in French. A non-French version waits until the French version is available on terms at least as favorable)
• Contracts of adhesion and related documents (Section: 55 · What the text requires: Drawn up in French. The parties may be bound only by another language if the French version was given to the adhering party and that is their express wish. The first paragraph excludes an employment contract and a contract used in relations with persons outside Quebec)

Purchase orders you issue as order forms belong with section 52, and counsel confirms that reading for your template. Sections 57, 52 and 55 name invoices, receipts, order forms and contracts of adhesion. They do not use the word quote. Have counsel place your quote template in one of those sections before you translate the layout.

From April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 the OQLF received 11,125 complaints, up 7% from 10,371 the year before. Language of service was 35%. Commercial documentation, including websites and social media, was 33%. Public and commercial signs were 16%, product inscriptions 6%, and language of work 5%. 51% of complaints targeted a business in the Montreal region. The Office says businesses make the requested corrections in 95% of cases.

An English-only invoice is a section 57 question. The French version has to be available to the recipient on terms at least as favorable. Sections 4 and 41 apply to the ERP your staff use.

Section 205 sets a fine of CAD 700 to CAD 7,000 for a natural person and CAD 3,000 to CAD 30,000 in other cases. It applies to contraventions of sections 78.1 to 78.3 or 176, and to a failure to obey an order of the Minister under section 128.3 or of the Office under section 177. Ask counsel which of your document or software duties, if any, sit in that list. The range is the published band for those provisions.

When the OQLF francization file starts

The formal file is a headcount test, and it is newer for smaller firms than the work-language duties. Charter section 139, as the OQLF presents it, says an enterprise that employs 25 persons or more for six months must register within six months after the end of that period. Within three months of the registration certificate it sends an analysis of its linguistic situation.

The OQLF states that the duty for enterprises with 25 to 49 persons, including those under federal jurisdiction, took effect on June 1, 2025. Before that date the process applied from 50 persons. In its May 6, 2024 release the Office said about 20,000 Quebec enterprises employ 25 to 49 persons. The same infoguide page states that enterprises with 100 or more persons must form a francization committee of six or more persons, which is Charter section 136.

Assume the six-month period of employing 25 or more persons in Quebec ended on March 1, 2026. Registration is due within six months after that date. The analysis is due within three months of the certificate, and section 141 says a francization program aims at generalized use of French, including French in work documents and tools and French in information technologies. The ERP language settings and the French training sheets belong in that program. Customer templates stay with sections 52 and 57. The OQLF describes the trigger as persons in Quebec. Ask counsel which employees, contractors and affiliated companies belong in your count before you calculate the date.

Assume 18 persons employed in Quebec. That count sits under the 25-person line in section 139. Sections 4, 41, 50.2, 52, 55 and 57, and section 52.1 on software, already apply. If the next hires will take the Quebec count to 25, include the French interface and the French documents in the project you are buying. The six-month registration clock opens only after 25 persons have been employed in Quebec for six months, and the filing is due within six months after that period ends.

What the software rule requires of the ERP

Section 52.1 has been in force since 1997. All computer software, including game software and operating systems, whether installed or not, must be available in French unless no French version exists. A version in another language is allowed if the French version can be obtained on terms no less favorable, and with technical characteristics at least equivalent. Price may differ when the difference reflects higher production or distribution costs.

The OQLF page on workplace software tells employers what to do with that right inside the company. Staff have the right to work in French. The employer makes the French version of every software application available, installs that French version by default on workstations, and promotes its use. A person's preference for another language must not undermine generalized use of French in information technology. The OQLF myths sheet says the same availability rule in short form: software must generally be available in French, and a business may use the English version when no French version exists.

For an ERP, that splits into two checks. The base product: install the French language and make it the default on Quebec workstations. Each add-on, custom field and partner report: ask the publisher, in writing, whether a French version exists. Where none exists, section 52.1 allows the other language, and you keep that letter for the linguistic analysis. Where one exists, you obtain it on terms no less favorable than the English app, and you compare what the French version does on the workflows your staff run.

An English My Settings choice can sit on top of a French default. In Business Central the display language is personal. In Odoo each user can run an installed language. The company still installs French, promotes it, and prints Quebec customer documents in French. Counsel, and at 25 persons the francization analysis, is where you show that a personal preference has not become the way the whole office works.

What Business Central shows in French (Canada)

Canada is a Microsoft-led localization. French (Canada), locale fr-CA, has a Microsoft platform translation and a Microsoft application translation published on Marketplace. French (France), fr-FR, is a separate Microsoft language. English (Canada), en-CA, is also a Microsoft language. English (United States) is built in. The Canadian version stays the Canadian version when the user interface is switched to French.

The Marketplace app French language (Canada) adds the capability to view the Business Central base application in French (Canada). It supports Essentials and Premium and every country where Business Central is available. The French (France) app is listed as free, USD 0, as of October 2026. The Canada app page seen in October 2026 did not show a price and said it was not available in the selected billing region. Budget a line for it until the price displays for your billing region. Do not copy the France price onto the Canada app.

Per-user language, and what can reset it

A user's display language is personal, on My Settings, and it does not change the language for the rest of the company. Administrators install language apps and can limit My Settings to those languages on the Allowed Languages page. If Microsoft 365 user sync is on, the language can reset to the Microsoft 365 profile. The practical sequence:

1. Confirm the environment is the Canadian localization.
2. Install French language (Canada). Treat fr-FR as a different language. If Quebec users need Canadian French, allow fr-CA and have a French-speaking user read the screens they use before go-live.
3. On Allowed Languages, keep the list to languages you will support in training and on documents.
4. Set each Quebec user's My Settings, then open that person's Microsoft 365 language. A later sync can put the profile language back.
5. For every extension you plan to buy, read that publisher's language list. The base app translation does not carry an extension. An extension displays English until its publisher ships a translation. Check each one on your own data.

Copilot features and the side pane

Microsoft's language list for Copilot includes French (fr-CA) for analysis assist, bank reconciliation assist, marketing text, the expense agent and the payables agent. Sales line suggestions, and map e-documents to purchase order lines, are listed for English locales only. If the Copilot side pane does not support the display language, it appears in English.

• Analysis assist, bank reconciliation assist, marketing text, expense agent, payables agent: French (fr-CA) is among the supported languages
• Sales line suggestions: English locales only
• Map e-documents to purchase order lines: English locales only
• Copilot side pane when the feature does not support the display language: Appears in English

Marketing text can draft wording a customer might see. A consultant reviews that draft before it goes out. Section 57 applies to an invoice or a receipt. Section 52 applies to a public page, a catalogue or a brochure. Sections 57, 52 and 55 do not name a quote, so counsel places that template before anyone treats it as an invoice rule.

What the Canada localization covers

The Canadian local-functionality page covers sales tax and GST/HST reporting, use tax and purchase tax, deposits, electronic payments and GIFI codes. It does not describe a Quebec French legal pack or QST-specific e-filing. Have the implementer post a sample Quebec invoice on your items, with GST and QST on the pre-tax price, and open the screen where the return is prepared.

Canada public list prices, as of October 2026, from Microsoft's Canada pricing page:

• Business Central Essentials (Price: CAD 108.50 · Basis: Per user per month, paid yearly, plus applicable tax)
• Business Central Premium (Price: CAD 149.20 · Basis: Per user per month, paid yearly, plus applicable tax)
• Business Central Team Members (Price: CAD 10.90 · Basis: Per user per month, paid yearly, plus applicable tax)

The Team Members price is the license, separate from the French language app. Staff who work in Quebec still need that French interface available. On a Business Central implementation, the language app, Allowed Languages and the customer Language Code are configuration, scoped with the licenses. See Business Central implementation phases when you sequence that configuration with migration and training.

What Odoo shows in French

Odoo translations are written against American English. French, language code fr, is an in-house translated language. The translation wiki treats French as one master language. A regional file is for strings that differ from that master, and the wiki tells translators not to ask for a separate main-country locale such as fr_FR. Have a Quebec user read the installed French on the menus, the invoice and the inventory screens, and list the strings that should differ for Canada. Those strings belong in a regional file.

Each Odoo user can run the interface in an installed language. Standard quotes and invoices are rendered in the language set on the customer or vendor contact, provided that language is installed and the report strings are translated. Custom report inheritances often print in the user's language instead. That split is where English-speaking clerks surprise a Quebec customer: the screen is English, the standard invoice follows the contact, and a customized invoice often follows the clerk.

The Canada localization is modules l10n_ca, l10n_ca_reports and l10n_ca_check_printing: chart of accounts, reports, cheque layouts and default fiscal positions that include Quebec (QC). Odoo documents that set as the accounting package for Canada. French is a separate language install. The documentation page is in English. Install French (fr) on its own, and install l10n_ca for the chart, the reports, the cheque layouts and the Quebec fiscal position. On an Odoo implementation, both are configured, then shown on a posted invoice.

Custom fields, Studio views and community modules sit outside the strings Odoo translates as language fr. Have the implementer log in as a Quebec user and show the French label on every custom field you plan to keep. Where no translation was loaded, you will see the source wording, which Odoo writes in American English. Community modules follow the same test: the module's author ships a translation, or the screen stays in the source language.

If the Quebec books are a separate company inside a group, set the user languages, the partner languages and the QC fiscal position on that company. See Odoo multi-company setup when that company sits inside a group.

How quotes, invoices and purchase orders pick a language

The interface language and the document language are different setups. A clerk can work in English while the Quebec customer receives French. That result depends on which field wins, and on whether anyone customized the report.

Business Central print order

Printed Business Central documents follow, in order, the report request page, the language on the document (from the customer or vendor Language Code), the report object, then My Settings. Microsoft's 2026 release wave 1 adds a company-wide Default Language Code on Company Information so customer-facing documents are not stuck on the user who prints them. As of October 2026, ask for that company default on a current sandbox.

Assume the report request page has no language chosen, the customer Language Code is French (Canada), and the user who prints works in English (Canada). The document language comes ahead of My Settings. The print follows the customer Language Code. The report object's language applies only when that code is blank. If someone sets English on the request page, that choice is first in the order, ahead of the customer Language Code. Train the people who print invoices, and lock the request-page default in the test script.

Set the Language Code on every Quebec customer and vendor before migration sign-off. A blank Language Code moves on to the next source in that order. The company Default Language Code, once you are on the 2026 wave 1 behavior, keeps a print from inheriting the clerk's English.

Odoo print order

Assume a Quebec contact whose language is French, with French installed and the standard report strings translated, and a clerk whose user language is English. A standard quote or invoice renders in the contact's language. A report inheritance often prints in the clerk's language instead. Print both the standard layout and every inherited layout during testing, with the same contact, and keep the PDFs. If the inherited invoice comes out in English, change the report.

A layout with French and English on one page is report design on either product. Section 57 still requires the French version of an invoice or receipt to be available to the recipient on terms at least as favorable. Section 52 does the same for order forms and catalogues you make available to the public. Have counsel say whether your bilingual PDF meets that test for each template.

What GST and QST ask of the invoice

Language and tax land on the same PDF. Revenu Québec states that GST is 5% of the selling price and QST is 9.975% of the selling price excluding GST. Revenu Québec administers the GST/HST in Quebec under an agreement with the federal government. The rate tables show GST at 5% since January 1, 2008 and QST at 9.975% since January 1, 2013. QST is not charged on top of GST.

• GST (Rate: 5% · Base: Selling price · In force since: January 1, 2008)
• QST (Rate: 9.975% · Base: Selling price excluding GST · In force since: January 1, 2013)

Assume a taxable Quebec sale of CAD 1,000 before tax, at those rates. GST is 5% of CAD 1,000, which is CAD 50. QST is 9.975% of CAD 1,000, which is CAD 99.75. The GST of CAD 50 is outside the QST base. Tax on the sale is CAD 149.75. The amount payable is CAD 1,149.75. A setup that calculates QST on CAD 1,050 would be using the wrong base. Have both products show this invoice on your items before you accept the tax configuration. Business Central's Canada page covers GST/HST reporting and does not describe QST e-filing. Odoo's Canada page includes a Quebec fiscal position and does not describe Revenu Québec e-filing. Ask each implementer to open the screen where the return is prepared.

A person is a small supplier, and need not register to collect GST/HST and QST, while worldwide taxable supplies of that person and associates do not exceed CAD 30,000 in a calendar quarter or in the four preceding calendar quarters. Crossing CAD 30,000 in one quarter ends small-supplier status on that supply. Crossing it over four quarters ends it at the end of the following month. Voluntary registration is allowed. Associates and worldwide supplies are inside the test, so a Quebec branch of a larger group can cross the line on sales made outside the province.

Revenu Québec says the GST/QST system does not impose a special invoice form except for restaurants and taxis. The information rules cover purchase invoices used to support input tax credits and input tax refunds, and they change with the amount.

• Under CAD 100: Supplier name, date, total, and for QST the tax amount and a description
• CAD 100 to CAD 499.99: Those items, plus both registration numbers
• CAD 500 or more: Those items, plus the purchaser's name and payment terms

If your customer will claim a credit, the document they keep has to carry the row that matches the amount. Put both registration numbers on the sales invoice layout you use from CAD 100 up, in French, with the description in French. Restaurants and taxis follow the special form Revenu Québec names. For other businesses, the published list above is the one tied to input tax credits and input tax refunds. A tax invoice sent only in English still has to meet section 57: the French version must be available to the recipient on terms at least as favorable.

What to require from the team that implements it

The training-document duty in section 41 is the employer's. You still hold that duty when the implementer is fluent in French. The French materials produced for your staff have to be available on terms at least as favorable as the English ones. Ask for four things in the statement of work, each as its own line.

1. The name of the consultant who will run the workshops in French. Sit in on a French walkthrough of a workflow your staff will use before you sign. Section 41 makes the French training documents your duty, whichever firm configures the system.
2. French quick-reference sheets for the workflows in the first phase, written for the Quebec users who will run them. The sheets ship with the phase, in French, at the same time as any English set.
3. Support hours that cover the Quebec workday, with a French-speaking person on that rota. Write the hours and the language on the quote. Match them to the shifts those users work.
4. A written list of every app, report and custom field, with the language a Quebec user will see. You re-check that list when someone adds an extension. Ask who owns the report layouts and the translation files after go-live, and whether you can export them if you change firms. Ask for references from a company that runs the same product with Quebec users, and match the phase plan to the French documents.

Odoo publishes Success Packs as hour bundles, as of October 2026. The figures are Odoo S.A. list prices for those hours. The firm that implements the project prices the four lines above on its own quote. On the Starter, Basic, Standard and Custom packs, hours expire after one year. On the Pro pack, onsite travel time and expenses are billed separately. New customers are listed at 15% off the first pack.

• Starter (Hours: 4 · List price: USD 580 · New-customer list: USD 493)
• Basic (Hours: 25 · List price: USD 3,600 · New-customer list: USD 3,060)
• Standard (Hours: 50 · List price: USD 7,000 · New-customer list: USD 5,950)
• Custom (Hours: 100 · List price: USD 12,500 · New-customer list: USD 10,625)
• Pro (Hours: 200 · List price: USD 25,000 · New-customer list: USD 21,250)

Price French workshops, report design and the appendix for the linguistic analysis with the implementer. The Starter pack is 4 hours at the list price in the table.

Under the Flectic Accelerated Delivery Framework, our target for a first usable phase is 8 to 12 weeks. For a company with Quebec staff, we use that phase to stand up the French interface, the customer document language and the GST and QST posting. We stay after go-live to correct French labels and report layouts as you add apps. The scope of that work is a phased ERP implementation: discovery, configuration, data migration, training and support after go-live, on Business Central or Odoo.

Have the Quebec headcount, the customer document list and the app list with you when you book.

How Flectic can help

Flectic implements Odoo and Dynamics 365 for companies of 20 to 100 people in the US and Canada that run finance and stock on spreadsheets, and we replace them with one ERP. Flectic sends a written proposal with a fixed price for each phase before work starts. Before you pick a platform, see how Flectic structures ERP implementation, then book a free discovery call with Flectic.

Sources

• Charter of the French language, consolidated text (sections 4, 5 and 52), LégisQuébec, April 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 41 (employment documents and communications), LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Adoption of Bill 96, impacts on employers, BLG, May 2022.
• Charter of the French language, s. 46, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 46.1, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 50.2, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 55, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 57, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 205, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Charter of the French language, s. 52.1, LégisQuébec, October 2026.
• Francization infoguides (sections 136, 139 and 141), OQLF, October 2026.
• Enterprises with 25 to 49 persons, release of May 6, 2024, OQLF, May 2024.
• More than 11,000 complaints to the OQLF in 2025-2026, OQLF, June 2026.
• Technologies de l'information (logiciels), OQLF, October 2026.
• Charter myths and reality (software), OQLF, October 2026.
• Country/regional availability and supported languages, Microsoft, October 2026.
• French language (Canada) for Business Central, Microsoft Marketplace, October 2026.
• French language (France) for Business Central, Microsoft Marketplace, October 2026.
• Changing your language and region settings, Microsoft, October 2026.
• Copilot and agent language availability, Microsoft, October 2026.
• Canada local functionality, Microsoft, October 2026.
• Business Central pricing (Canada), Microsoft, October 2026.
• Translating Odoo, Odoo, October 2026.
• QWeb reports, Odoo, October 2026.
• Canada fiscal localization, Odoo, October 2026.
• Report data formatting and caption strings, Microsoft, October 2026.
• Basic rules for applying the GST/HST and QST, Revenu Québec, October 2026.
• Tables of GST and QST rates, Revenu Québec, October 2026.
• Small suppliers, Revenu Québec, October 2026.
• Preparing invoices, Revenu Québec, October 2026.
• Odoo Success Packs, Odoo, October 2026.