CANADA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Anthony Franceschini, INF LLP
Bill 29 in Québec Leads Canada into a New Era of Product Durability, Repairability and Warranty
Section 38.1 of the CPA prohibits any person, by any means, from carrying on the business of manufactur - ing, distributing, or selling goods for which obsoles - cence is planned. The Act defines “planned obsoles - cence” as the use of any technique aimed at reducing the normal operating life of a good. This provision came into force with immediate effect on 5 October 2023. It applies to goods across all categories. This exten - sion to software-dependent goods raises significant practical concerns, because software-based products frequently have known end-of-support dates after which security patches and updates will no longer be provided. This question has not yet been resolved by the regulator or the courts. The government has also reserved the power to issue standards for interoperability between goods and chargers ‒ this technical framework has not yet been published. Manufacturers should therefore audit their product lines to identify any components or design features that could be characterised as planned obsolescence techniques, including software-based restrictions on repair, proprietary fasteners or tools that prevent third- party access, and end-of-support timelines that expire before the product’s reasonable useful life. Sanctions in case of violation of this prohibition are substantial. For corporations and other legal enti - ties, fines for violations of the planned obsolescence prohibition range from CAD5,000 to CAD125,000, or an amount equal to 5% of worldwide revenue for the preceding fiscal year, whichever is greater. Individual directors, officers, mandataries, and rep - resentatives of an offending entity are presumed to have committed the offence personally, unless they can establish that they exercised due diligence and took all necessary precautions to prevent it. This pre - sumed liability on directors and officers is one of the most significant compliance implications of the Act for senior management of businesses operating in Québec.
Obligations Introduction
On 1 June 2023, the Québec Minister of Justice intro - duced Bill 29, formally titled “An Act to protect con - sumers against planned obsolescence and to promote the durability, repairability and maintenance of goods” (the “Act”). The National Assembly enacted the legis - lation on 3 October 2023, and it received assent on 5 October 2023. The Act represents the most ambitious reform of Québec’s Consumer Protection Act (CQLR, c. P-40.1) (CPA) in recent history, and the most strin - gent consumer product legislation in Canada. Québec has long been recognised as a jurisdiction with particularly robust statutory protections for con - sumers. The CPA’s legal warranties of quality, dura - bility, and fitness for purpose cannot be waived or disclaimed by contract, and they bind both merchants and manufacturers directly. Bill 29 builds on that foundation and amends the CPA in four principal areas: • prohibition on planned obsolescence; • the introduction of a lemon law for seriously defec - tive automobiles (Section 53.1 CPA); • the enhancement of the warranty of availability of replacement parts, repair services, and mainte - nance information (the “Availability Warranty”); and • the introduction of a new statutory warranty of good working order for specific goods (the “Good Working Order Warranty”). The result is a statute that imposes obligations on manufacturers, distributors, and merchants who sell or lease consumer goods in Québec that are unprec - edented in Canada. Québec is also the first Canadian province to enact “right-to-repair” legislation. This article provides an overview of Bill 29’s key features, and their impact on the Canadian product liability landscape, in the order they were put into force. The ban on planned obsolescence of goods sold (in force 5 October 2023) The cornerstone of the Act’s statement of principle is the prohibition on planned obsolescence. The new
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