Starting next Wednesday, it will be illegal in Quebec for loyalty card programs to allow points to expire.
The Quebec government's Bill 134 is even more strict than the one set up by neighbour Ontario earlier this year.
The changes follow the announcement in 2016 by Air Miles that it was cancelling its expiry policy after an uproar by clients. It had announced the five-year expiry rule in late 2011.
Your points now will be good no matter how old they are but you have to be careful because you could still lose them, said Élise Thériault, lawyer with Montreal consumer advocacy group Option Consommateurs.
"They need to keep their accounts active so they need to at least earn their points once a year," said Thériault in an interview with CJAD 800.
Since this law had major loyalty card programs in mind, there's also a difference with smaller programs.
"For example, when the reward value is less than 50 dollars, the program could close and you lose your points and your rewards," said Thériault.
"This is applying to loyalty programs such as Buy five coffees, get one free or accumulate ten stamps and get a ten dollar rebate on your next purchase."
Other rules kick in next year.
"There are new rules preventing reward programs to change the value of the points you've earned or increase the cost of the reward in a disproportionate manner," said Thériault.
Merchants can change their programs but they have to inform customers in writing.