Draft Regulations Clarify Warranty and Repair Obligations Under Quebec’s Bill 29 on Planned Obsolescence
On January 22, the Quebec government published the draft Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the application of the Consumer Protection Act (hereinafter the "Regulation").
This new Regulation is the most recent element in the enhanced scrutiny and overhaul of the consumer protection sector by the Quebec government in recent years.
In 2023, the provincial government notably adopted Bill 29: An Act to protect consumers against planned obsolescence and to promote the durability, repairability and maintenance of goods, (hereinafter "Bill 29”), which continues to come into force gradually and will only be fully effective in 2026. This Act aims, among other things, to prohibit the sale of goods with planned obsolescence and to enhance the legal warranty of good working order as well as the legal guarantee of availability of replacement parts and repair services under the Consumer Protection Act by adding precise provisions on replacements, repair, and disclosure obligations of merchants and manufacturers.
In enacting these amendments, Bill 29 indicated that certain elements, such as the definition and scope of newly introduced obligations, could be further determined by regulation. This Regulation seeks to provide further clarity on those concepts.
Key Elements
Availability of Replacement Parts and Repair Services
The new Regulation primarily aims to add a section on “goods of a nature that requires maintenance work” to the existing Regulation respecting the application of the Consumer Protection Act, clarifying the disclosure and availability requirements imposed by Bill 29, most of which come into force on October 5, 2025. This category of goods is partially defined in section 39 of Bill 29 and includes "goods whose use may require the replacement, cleaning or updating of one of their components."
The newly introduced section 39 requires merchants and manufacturers making available to consumers a good likely to require maintenance work to maintain the availability of replacement parts, repair services, and the necessary information for repair and maintenance for a reasonable period following the transaction, unless they release themselves from this obligation by providing prior written notice to the consumer before the conclusion of the transaction.
It must also be possible to install the replacement parts using commonly available tools without causing irreversible damage to the goods. The Regulation now specifies that a tool would be considered “commonly available” if (i) it is provided free of charge to the consumer before or at the time of taking possession of the good or (ii) it can be obtained online or in a store at a reasonable price and within a reasonable time. The Regulation does not provide any additional insight into what would be considered a “reasonable time.”
Interestingly, we note that there are certain elements of Bill 29 which the Regulation does not address in its current form. For example, while Bill 29 states that a regulation may determine the replacement parts and necessary repair information which no merchant or manufacturer may be released from supplying by virtue of providing written notice to the consumer prior to the conclusion of the transaction, the Regulation is silent on this point.
It is likely that the regulator is in the midst of ongoing internal discussions and we will probably see future updates to this Regulation to resolve this gap, since it otherwise leaves the possibility of merchants and manufactures broadly releasing themselves from certain repairability obligations by the mere act of providing prior written notice to the consumer.
Necessary Disclosures
Law 29 provides that a manufacturer of a good must disclose certain details to the consumer about replacement parts, repair services, and maintenance information. The Regulation specifies the scope of the information to be disclosed as well as the manner in which it must be presented to the consumer.
Manufacturers are required to disclose whether the availability of replacement parts, repair services, and maintenance information is fully, partially (in which case a full list of the elements whose availability is not guaranteed should also be disclosed) or not at all guaranteed.
Moreover, this information must be presented online prominently and comprehensibly, in a manner that allows it to be easily retained and printed in paper form by the consumer.
A similar obligation applies to merchants under Law 29 and the new provisions introduced by the Regulation. However, we note two important differences:
- The merchant is obliged to make this disclosure in writing before concluding the transaction with the consumer; and
- Before concluding an online contract with a consumer, the merchant is obliged to provide the hyperlink leading to the implicated manufacturer's disclosure in close proximity to his own disclosure as a merchant.
Exception to the Prohibition on Making Repairs or Maintenance More Difficult
Amendments to the Consumer Protection Act under Bill 29 forbid merchants and manufacturers from using techniques that have the outcome of making it more difficult for consumers to repair or maintain goods.
However, the Regulation provides a carve-out by specifying that a merchant or manufacturer does not contravene this section if they prove that the use of such a technique is the only way to protect the consumer or his representative against a grave, serious, direct, and immediate risk to safety, unless this representative is a person offering repair or maintenance services as part of a business. Additionally, this technique can be justified if it is required to ensure compliance with a law or regulation. The Regulation does not foresee the circumstances under which a risk to consumer’s safety would be considered to be grave, serious, direct, and immediate.
Next Steps
Stakeholders have a 45-day consultation period beginning January 22, 2025 (and concluding on March 8, 2025) to submit their comments on the Regulation in writing to the President of the Office de la protection du consommateur.
The Regulation is expected to come into force on October 5, 2025.
For more information on the Act to protect consumers against planned obsolescence and to promote the durability, repairability and maintenance of goods, please consult our previous publication on this subject.