I wonder what the adherence rate really is to marking ITE equipment in French for the Quebec market.
I have never worked for a company that had a special Quebec-only product marking or even a localization effort for any other language. Granted that my experience is mostly with the more expensive network and high-end server market but I suspect that it is pretty universal. A quick search of the best selling office electronics listed in Amazon.ca (En Francais) shows that none of the items have their markings in French that I can see unless words like "Copy" have now been accepted by the Academie Francaise. Even the product descriptions are in English. http://www.amazon.ca/Office-Electronics/b/ref=sv_sw_6?ie=UTF8&node=677254011 Take it for what it's worth but I would not advise my company to take this law seriously for ITE equipment. ...Marko PS As an aside, I was in high school when Bill 101 came out so my memory may be skewed but I remember that several "dens of iniquity", bookies, etc. were discovered when the stores in Montreal that had Chinese-language only signs were forced to get translated into French. Don't know if that is an urban legend but it makes for an interesting story. From: Ted Eckert [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:37 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] Canada markings I will concede the point. http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/english/charter/title1chapter7.html From: Tyra, John [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:34 AM To: Tyra, John; Ted Eckert; [email protected] Subject: RE: Canada markings Link to the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tyra, John Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 12:28 PM To: 'Ted Eckert'; [email protected] Subject: RE: Canada markings This is not an NRTL requirement but is a Legal requirement in Quebec I have been advised that the Quebec "Charter of the French Language" requires all product markings including non safety related ones, to be in French http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/english/charter/index.html I know Wikipedia is not always accurate but it gives a good summary, see the "Commerce and Business " section.... From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ted Eckert Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 12:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Canada markings In my opinion, marking not required by the standard need not be translated. If the marking isn't required, it doesn't need to be there at all. Is the NRTL stating that if you left it off you would have been fine, but since you put it there it must also be in French? That seems ludicrous to me. Let me give an example. My laptop has a switch to turn on and off the WiFi and Bluetooth radios. The switch is marked "ON" and "OFF". It is in English with no other languages given. Is your NRTL saying that this would be a noncompliance issue because it isn't in French? PAG 60950-1 section 1.7.8-2 actually specifically addresses this issue and states that for a switch does not affect safety, "ON"/"OFF" or similar instructions is acceptable. It only requires internationally accepted symbols for switches affecting safety. I can't find a UL PAG beyond what I have above, or an IECEE CTL Decision Sheet covering this issue. As such, I can only offer my opinion. Regards, Ted Eckert Compliance Engineer Microsoft Corporation [email protected] The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. From: Brian O'Connell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 8:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Canada markings In UL/CSA60950-1, 1.7.2.1, we find: "NOTE 5 In Canada, the instructions and markings should be in French and English." And in annex NAA there is: "French translations of required markings are considered informative. It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide bilingual markings, where applicable, in accordance with local jurisdictional requirements." So I told the boss that there is no mandatory requirement for ALL label stuff to be in French - just the safety-critical notices, and that we will do a completer version of the manual in French. The subsequent assessment by the CSS/NRTL indicated that the label must be COMPLETELY in French. With 1000s of labels already stocked, I am not about to acquiesce. Supporting documentation/experience ? thanks, Brian Important : This message is intended only for the recipient(s) identified above by the originator or forwarder of this message and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary and/or legally privileged. If you have any reason to believe or suspect that this message may have come to you in error, please notify the originator of this message of your receipt of it, refrain from sharing this message with anyone else, delete it from each computer or server on which it is stored (without copying it or printing it out) and take no other action based on its content. Thank you. - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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