Bill 25<\/strong>, officially titled “An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information”<\/em>, is a major reform of Quebec’s privacy laws. It strengthens personal data protection, aligns with global standards like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and applies to all businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)\u2014a fact often overlooked.<\/p>\n If your business collects, uses, or stores personal information, you are required to review your data practices and ensure full compliance. The law was phased in from September 2022 to September 2024, and non-compliance can result in serious penalties\u2014up to $25 million or 4% of worldwide turnover.<\/p>\n By following these steps, SMEs can ensure compliance with Bill 25, reduce legal risks, and build stronger trust with clients and partners. Taking action now protects your business and positions it as a responsible and modern player in today’s data-driven world.<\/p>\n Me Jean-Ren\u00e9 Paquette is the founding attorney and president of Paquette Avocats in Kirkland, in the West Island. A bilingual corporate lawyer in Montr\u00e9al<\/a>, he focuses his practice on commercial mergers and acquisitions<\/a>, labour and employment, distribution and complex contracts, advising entrepreneurs, SMEs and investors across a range of industries<\/a>. Called to the Qu\u00e9bec Bar in 2003, he brings more than 20 years of experience in structuring and securing transactions that support clients\u2019 long-term growth.<\/p>\n See Me Jean-Ren\u00e9 full bio here<\/a> and follow him on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-corporate-law"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bill25-600x400.webp","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bill25-600x580.webp","author_info":{"display_name":"Me Jean Ren\u00e9 Paquette","author_link":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/author\/jean-rene-paquette\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Key Obligations for SMEs Under Bill 25:<\/h3>\n
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![\"Me](\"https:\/\/paquette.legal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Me-Jean-Rene.webp\" "\\"Me")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>About the Author<\/a><\/h3>\n