Since October 5, 2026, a new refrigerator sold to a Quebec consumer comes with six years of free repairs, whether or not the manufacturer offers a warranty of its own. For an online seller, the new warranty of good working order is first a display problem: the law wants its duration next to the price, and on a website the price shows up in a lot of places.
This article takes the point of view of whoever runs the store's catalogue and templates. For returns, refunds and the reasonable-durability warranty, the details are in our article on Quebec consumer law for online stores.
The short answer, for the busy
Since October 5, 2026, Quebec's Consumer Protection Act (s. 38.1) gives fourteen new goods sold or leased long-term to a consumer a warranty of good working order. Counted from delivery, it lasts 6 years for ranges, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps, 5 years for washers, dryers and dishwashers, 4 years for televisions and 3 years for desktop computers, laptops, video game consoles, cell phones and tablets. It covers parts, labour and reasonable shipping costs, and follows the goods to a subsequent buyer. The merchant must show the duration near the advertised price in a prominent manner (s. 38.8), online too, and the Office recommends writing the name out in full. Before selling an extended warranty on these goods, the merchant must present the Office's new notice. Without compliant display, the customer can cancel that extended warranty for a full year.
Fourteen goods, four durations, one free repair
The durations are set by regulation and match the short answer above. Section 38.1 names fourteen goods, which the Office's table groups under thirteen labels ("laptop or desktop computer" shares one line). According to the Office, the warranty applies regardless of brand, product range or price paid, to any contract entered into with a consumer from October 5, 2026. Goods bought before that date are not covered, even if delivered after it.
The warranty covers parts and labour (s. 38.2), and the merchant or manufacturer pays reasonable transportation or shipping costs (s. 38.5). It excludes normal maintenance and damage from abusive use (s. 38.3). The consumer chooses whom to call, and the Office states that a merchant cannot force a consumer to go to the manufacturer. No exemption is possible, and a merchant outside Quebec that sells online to Quebecers is bound by it. The new warranty adds to the reasonable-durability warranty without replacing it, but during the fixed period the customer has nothing to prove beyond the malfunction.
One sentence of law that reaches every displayed price
Section 38.8 is short: the merchant must indicate the duration of the warranty "near their advertised price", "in a prominent manner". The Office spells out the scope: the mention belongs near a price advertised online, on a label, in an ad or in a flyer.
Among its good practices, it recommends writing "garantie de bon fonctionnement" out in full rather than "warranty" or the abbreviation "GBF", in legible type, and not to bury the information. Its own example of what fails: showing the full list of covered goods and their durations near the price of a computer.
In our reading, that also rules out a table of all fourteen goods in the footer and a "Warranties" link under every price: the rule calls for one piece of information per item, next to its price. The Office's sample for a transactional website shows exactly that: on a laptop page, a line reading "Garantie de bon fonctionnement : 3 ans" sits just above the price and the add-to-cart button.
Section 277 sets a fine of $3,000 to $75,000 for a business that breaches section 38.8. For many stores, though, the costliest consequence sits in the extended warranty.
In the template, not in the description
On a website, the price appears on the product page, in category grids, in site search, in the cart and in the promotional newsletter, a close cousin of the flyer the Office names. The Office illustrates only the product page, but we read each of these places as an advertised price. To show the duration everywhere, attach it to the component that renders the price, not to each page's copy. Four decisions follow.
The duration is category data. It depends on the type of goods: every new cell phone gets three years, whatever the model. A field on the product (not covered, or one of the fourteen) linked to a table of durations saves typing "3 years" by hand on hundreds of pages. If the regulation adds a product type, you change one row of the table.
Your store's categories are not the law's. Your "Computers" aisle mixes laptops, mice and cables, and accessories are covered only if a regulation says so (s. 38.3). Classification happens product by product, once, list in hand. Used and refurbished goods need their own decision, since the Act covers new goods and, according to the Office, the period runs from delivery to the first buyer.
The price component carries the mention. Wherever the template shows the price of covered goods, it shows the warranty line beside it, in legible type. In a tight grid that is one more line per tile, to be solved in the design rather than in fine print. On the product page, the duration also belongs in the specifications.
The cart and the confirmation fall under the distance-contract rules. Since October 5, paragraph d.2 of section 54.4 lists "the duration of the warranty of good working order" among what the customer must see before ordering, and section 54.6 has the written contract repeat it. In practice: the cart summary and the confirmation email.
The extended warranty at checkout: a notice and a one-year clock
The extended-warranty module at checkout is the part of the site the reform hits hardest. Before offering an additional warranty, merchants already had to inform the consumer of the legal warranties (s. 228.1). Section 228.2 adds the existence and duration of the warranty of good working order. The Office has published a new notice on legal warranties for these goods: it opens by stating that the law requires the manufacturer and the merchant to guarantee the good working order of the item for a number of years left blank to fill in, then reproduces the table of durations.
Online, the Office suggests making the customer go through a web page that contains the notice, legible, and easy to keep and print. In our reading, a pre-ticked box will not do it: you need a step, before the offer, that shows the notice filled in for that item and tells the customer they can cancel the additional warranty at no cost within 10 days (s. 228.3).
This is where display becomes a revenue question. Section 228.3 extends that 10-day window "to one year if the merchant has failed to" indicate the duration near the price under section 38.8, or failed to inform the customer before the offer. A missing line on a television page therefore makes every extended warranty sold on that television cancellable for twelve months, with a refund. One caveat: section 228.3 does not apply to a contract underwritten by an insurer authorized under the Insurers Act. Check who underwrites the warranty your module sells.
Right before the offer, the customer now reads that the law already gives them three to six years of free repairs. The extended warranty has to sell something else: the phone dropped on the floor, which the Office cites as not covered, or a committed repair time, since the law, according to the Office, only requires a reasonable time. If it offers nothing more, the notice will make that plain.
Google Shopping and ads: the grey zone
A Google Shopping ad shows a price pulled from the feed described in our article on Merchant Center. The Office lists ads among the places where the mention must sit near the price. Google's title specification rules out promotional text and notes that users usually notice only the first 70 characters or fewer. "Garantie de bon fonctionnement 3 ans" uses half of that.
The Office's Q&A page does not address this case. Our cautious position: the landing page carries the mention next to the price, without exception, and the ad itself gets settled with a lawyer before the holiday season rather than after a complaint.
The warranty follows the goods, so must your records
Section 38.6 makes the merchant liable for the warranty "to a consumer who is the subsequent purchaser of the goods". A second-hand buyer can claim it while the period runs, and the Office specifies that the period is counted from delivery of the new goods to the first buyer.
Three years from now, a stranger may write to you about a tablet you sold today. If your platform does not tie the serial number to the order and the actual delivery date, now is the time to add it.
A repair does not reset the clock: the Office's example is a washer repaired four years after delivery, still covered for one more year. The warranty is extended, however, for the time the merchant or manufacturer holds the goods for repair. Like the balance on a gift card, it is a commitment that outlives the sale and is managed with data.
Where to start
First, classify the catalogue: for each product, not covered or one of the fourteen. Next, add the mention to the price component on product pages, grids, search and cart, and to the confirmation email. Then rework the extended-warranty module: current notice, shown before the offer. Finally, update newsletter templates, settle the Shopping ads question and keep serial numbers and delivery dates together.
The first two steps are data and template work, the kind done during a redesign or a targeted engagement. To find out what it means for your store, write to us.
→ Let's talk about your store and your product pages
This article explains legal obligations to help an SMB ask the right questions. It is not legal advice: the rules described carry exceptions depending on the goods, the type of contract and how the extended warranty is underwritten. Validate your situation with the Office de la protection du consommateur or a professional. The text of the Act and the regulation prevails.
Written byXavier Peich