What is Bill 96?
Bill 96 strengthens the provisions of the Charter of the French Language in Québec, which governs the use of French as the language of commerce and business. To accord with the Charter, the contracting party must be given an opportunity to review the French version of a contract of adhesion before they can request to be bound by an English contract.
Policy contract delivery – What is changing for Québec residents?
Advisors must first present (give) the policy owner(s) the opportunity to review the French version of the policy contract.
After the policy owner completes the application for insurance in their language of choice with a licensed advisor, and once the policy is approved – if the owner is a Québec resident who has selected English as their preferred language – both an English and French contract will be issued.
Contract delivery process
The servicing advisor delivering the policy must ensure the French contract is presented (given) to the policy owner for review. The policy owner will then confirm to the advisor which version of the contract language they wish to be bound by, English or French. The servicing advisor will proceed to release the contract in the language chosen by the policy owner for final review and delivery.
- First step – click on the French contract button to open and present the French language version of the contract
- This step must be done, even if an English version of the application has been completed.
- Allow the policy owner to review and scroll through the French language version of the contract.
- If the policy owner choses the French language – deliver same
- If the policy owner prefers the English language version – review and deliver same.
The following policy owner acknowledgement has been added to the Policy Delivery Receipt to confirm that the French contract was presented, and the policy owner has chosen to be bound by the English contract.
Questions?
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Published on: July 17, 2023