The use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications.  In 2006, GE Healthcare, a French subsidiary of a US company, was fined €500,000 plus an ongoing fine of €20,000 per day for providing software and related technical documentation to its employees in the English language only.  The Toubon Law (the full name of which is Law 94-665 of 4 August 1994 relating to usage of the French language) requires French to be used in official government publications, in all advertisements, in all workplaces, in commercial contracts, in some other commercial communication contexts, in all government-financed schools, and some other contexts, included broadcasted programs.  The Civil Court of Versailles, followed a strict interpretation of the Labor Code, and on January 11, 2005, ordered GE Healthcare to immediately provide its employees with (i) a French translation of its software and (ii) a French translation of documents relating to employee training, safety and health instructions and training manuals. In addition, the court ordered the company to have documents relating to products already on the market translated into French by June 1, 2005, with a daily penalty for non-compliance of €20,000 per document.

The Toubon Law also allows for the fine of individuals  caught adulterating the French language with commercial or official English, including computer terms.