|
 |
|
|
Plain Language Policy Citation: NA. Plain language policy. Harvard School of Public Health: Health Literacy Web site. 2002. Available at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/healthliteracy/policy/ plain_language.html. Accessed “insert date.”
I. Presidential Memorandum on Plain Language The White House SUBJECT: Plain Language in Government Writing “The Vice President and I have made reinventing the Federal Government a top priority of my Administration. We are determined to make the Government more responsive, accessible, and understandable in its communications with the public. The Federal Government's writing must be in plain language. By using plain language, we send a clear message about what the Government is doing, what it requires, and what services it offers. Plain language saves the Government and the private sector time, effort, and money. Plain language requirements vary from one document to another, depending on the intended audience. Plain language documents have logical organization, easy-to-read design features, and use:
To ensure the use of plain language, I direct you to do the following: By October 1, 1998, use plain language in all new documents, other than regulations, that explain how to obtain a benefit or service or how to comply with a requirement you administer or enforce. For example, these documents may include letters, forms, notices, and instructions. By January 1, 2002, all such documents created prior to October 1, 1998 must also be in plain language. By January 1, 1999, use plain language in all proposed and final rulemakings published in the Federal Register, unless you proposed the rule before that date. You should consider rewriting existing regulations in plain language when you have the opportunity and resources to do so. The National Partnership for Reinventing Government will issue guidance to help you comply with these directives and to explain more fully the elements of plain language. You should also use customer feedback and common sense to guide your plain language efforts. I ask the independent agencies to comply with these directives. This memorandum does not confer any right or benefit enforceable by law against the United States or its representatives. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget will publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.” II. Plain Language and the NIH The Director of the Executive Secretariat (ES) is leading the NIH effort to comply with the President's above memorandum. The ES Director sent a memorandum to IC Directors and OD Staff informing them of first steps in implementing the plain language requirement at the NIH. The Acting Director, NIH, sent a memo to IC Directors and OD Staff in July 2000, attaching NIH's guidelines regarding use of plain language and other resources related to plain language. The National Partnership for Reinventing Government has also created a Web site providing a great deal of information on use of plain language in official documents.
III. Plain Language Policy and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted amendments to its rules and regulations which require registrants to use plain language principles in the writing of prospectuses (Securities Act Release No. 7497; Exchange Act Release No. 34-39593; Investment Company Act Release No. 23011 January 28, 1998). The Amendments revise current requirements for the front and back cover pages, "summary" and "risk factors" sections of prospectuses and provide issuers with more specific guidance on the clarity required in filed documents. The new rules were effective October 1, 1998. The SEC is also now providing an on-line version of "A Plain English Handbook: How to Create Clear SEC Disclosure Documents" in PDF format. IV. Financial Executives International (FEI) and Plain Language Financial Executives International (FEI), the leading organization for CFOs and other senior financial executives, released a set of 12 recommendations developed by a member based task force. The task force report will be sent to Congress, the SEC, and the stock exchanges. The 8th recommendation is as follows: "8.) Modernize financial reporting. Steps here include developing best practices for Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), implementing plain English financial reporting, and providing Web site access to key performance measures. ..." V. American Bar Association and Plain Language In August of 1999, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association resolved that the association “…urges agencies to use plain language in writing regulations, as a means of promoting the understanding of legal obligations, using such techniques as:
To avoid problems in the use of plain language techniques, agencies should:
CANADA I. Communications Policy of the Government of Canada
(Treasury Board) Policy Number Three: Plain Language Policy Objective: The purpose of this policy is to ensure that communications across the Government of Canada are well co-ordinated, effectively managed and responsive to the diverse information needs of the public. “An institution’s duty to inform the public includes the obligation to communicate effectively. Information about policies, programs, services and initiatives must be clear, relevant, objective, easy to understand and useful. To ensure clarity and consistency of information, plain language and proper grammar must be used in all communication with the public. This principle also applies to internal communications, as well as to information prepared for Parliament or any other official body, whether delivered in writing or in speech.” This policy takes effect on April 1, 2002. It replaces the Government Communications Policy, which was issued in 1988, published in the Treasury Board Administrative Policy Manual, Communications Volume, Chapter 1, and last revised on November 28, 1996, when it became available in electronic form. II. Establishment of the National Literacy Secretariat The origins of the NLS lie in the Speech from the Throne in 1986 which committed the federal government to "work with the provinces, the private sector and voluntary organizations to develop measures to ensure that Canadians have access to the literacy skills that are prerequisite for participation in an advanced economy". The National Literacy Secretariat was established by authorization of Cabinet in 1987 and has been actively involved since 1988 in working with its partners to promote literacy in Canada. The NLS is administratively part of the federal department of Human Resources Development Canada. The mission of the Human Resources Development Canada is to enable Canadians to participate fully in the workplace and the community. They fulfill this through their action agenda (Business Plan) as they deliver a wide variety of programs and services in more than 320 offices across the country. One of the projects funded by the National Literacy Secretariat is the National Literacy and Health Program which is operated out of the Canadian Public Health Association. III. Plain Language Promotion by the Canadian Public Health Association CPHA's mission is to constitute a special national resource in Canada that advocates for the improvement and maintenance of personal and community health according to the public health principles of disease prevention, health promotion and protection and healthy public policy. The CPHA achieves its mission through nine goals. The ninth goal is “Identifying literacy as a major factor in achieving equitable access to health services”. With the establishment of literacy as one of its nine primary goals, the CPHA makes a pledge to promote literacy in all of its endeavors and firmly believes that literacy is a social determinant to health. Plain Language as defined by the CPHA, “ is a way of organizing and presenting information so that it makes sense and is easy to read for the audience it is intended for. Plain language starts with a commitment to learn as much as you can about the people you serve. This will help you to develop useful and effective health materials. Plain language includes consulting with your audience so that your health message is what they want to know and what they need to know…” In an effort to continually promote literacy, the CPHA established the National Literacy and Health Program with funding from the National Literacy Secretariat. The National Literacy and Health Program provides resources to help health professionals serve clients with low literacy skills more effectively. The program focuses on health information in plain language and clear verbal communication between health professionals and the clients they serve. The NLHP as well as the CPHA, in general, highly recommend that materials that are being produced for the general public read between grade 4 or 6. The National Literacy and Health Program has been in existence for ten years, and works with twenty-seven national health association partners to raise awareness about literacy and health. Another program initiated by the CPHA in an effort to achieve and promote its literacy goal is the Plain Language Service. The PLS provides plain language and clear design assessments and revisions as well as focus testing and workshops for the public, private and voluntary sectors in every field, even outside the health arena. IV. Nova Scotia’s Approach to Plain Language Policy (Provincial) http://www.gov.ns.ca/cmns/plainlanguage/default.htm The Nova Scotia government's interest in plain language is based on the beliefs that there is an increasing demand for the government to be open and accountable to the public; that the awareness of plain language will increase social justice; and that there is a real need for clear and understandable public documents (40% of Nova Scotians have trouble dealing with government documents). Nova Scotia's four-year plan for plain language policy reflects the way governments tend to do business—conservatively—and the fact that a quick introduction costs more money, which isn't an option. Nova Scotia, moreover, is in the first year of a new government. The Nova Scotia government has based its plan on lessons learned from other provincial governments:
In Nova Scotia's systematic approach, the four-year plan breaks the task down by the types of writing involved:
V. Canadian Model for Plain Language Loan Disclosure Documents Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions released a four model plain language loan disclosure documents designed to make it easier for consumers to understand these types of agreements. The four documents cover credit card applications, credit card agreements, personal lines of credit and vehicle loan agreements. All financial institutions and retail loan providers in Canada are encouraged to use these model documents as guidelines in developing their own plain language loan disclosure agreements. The need for plain language financial documents was first brought forward in the report issued by the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector, which was released in 1998. The development of these documents was one of the commitments made by the Government in the June 1999 policy paper entitled Reforming Canada’s Financial Services Sector: A Framework for the Future. Following the policy paper’s release, a joint federal-provincial task force held extensive consultations with industry and consumer stakeholders on issues related to the development of model plain language disclosure documents. The information gained from these consultations was used to draft the model loan contracts, which have been tested with a wide range of consumers. VI. Canadian
Bankers Association: Plain language Mortgage Documents Members of the Canadian Bankers Association are committed to providing customers with banking information which they can easily understand and use. This commitment led them to work together to explore how to apply plain language writing principles to residential mortgage documents. They turned to plain language documents because they knew that it would help their customers as well save staff time by eliminating confusion and improving communication within their organizations and with customers. It is up to each financial institution to write its own mortgage documents to address the needs of its customers and to explain its mortgage products. Plain language mortgage documents do not all look alike, but they will reflect attention to some basic plain language writing principles. These principles are based on Plain language legal drafting which is a relatively new area of legal work that has emerged during the last thirty years. Its practitioners follow these basic writing principles:
The Canadian Bankers Association believes that customer feedback is the best way for financial institutions to know if residential mortgage documents adequately reflect plain language writing principles. SWEDEN I. Plain Language Movement in Sweden http://www.justitie.regeringen.se/klarsprak/english/english.htm For the past 30 years, the Swedish government has been working to make the communication between the administration and the public more effective. The government has gone on from a tentative initial period of timid recommendations to a second phase, in which it has tackled a number of projects designed to simplify and improve the design and drafting of official documents. At the Division for Legal and Linguistic Revision in the Ministry of Justice, there are four language experts and five legal advisors who provide legal and linguistic services to the officials in the ten ministries. There is also the Plain Swedish Group (Klarspråksgruppen) appointed by the government in 1994 to encourage state agencies all over Sweden to start plain language projects. HONG KONG I. Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) Working Group
Project on the Use of Plain Language The AIMR Advocacy Advisory Committee and Board Oversight Committee (AIMR Committees) has long supported initiatives to simplify disclosure documents, believing that lengthy and highly technical descriptions make it difficult for an investor to fully understand a fund’s risks. Prospectus information should be presented clearly, concisely, and without elaborate caveats or disclaimers. In other words, it should be presented in "plain language." Part One and Part Two of the Working Group’s Project on Plain Language:
|