{"id":5052,"date":"2022-10-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/28-10-2022\/new-zealands-plain-language-act\/"},"modified":"2022-10-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T00:00:00","slug":"new-zealands-plain-language-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/28-10-2022\/new-zealands-plain-language-act","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s Plain Language Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>Context<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Recently, New Zealand has passed the<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> Plain Language Bill<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">, which requires bureaucrats to use simple, easily understood language while <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>communicating with the public.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>About<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">With the law, which banishes jargon and complicated English words, New Zealand is aiming to become a <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>more inclusive democracy and help people who speak English as their second language<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">, those with disabilities, and the less educated.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">According to the Bill, plain language is defined as <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>\u201cappropriate to the intended audience\u201d and \u201cclear, concise, and well organised\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Though the<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> Plain Language Act does not specify <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">which language constitutes a \u201cplain language\u201d, the Act is intended for the use of<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> \u201cplain English\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>Implementation and challenges<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Under the <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Plain Language Act<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">, a public service agency must annually report its compliance with the plain language use<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> requirement to the Commissioner.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">The Commissioner, in turn, must annually report the <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>compliance of agencies to the Minister of Public Service.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">The Act further instructs the<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> Minister of Public Service to present a copy of the report to the House of Representatives <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">within 20 business days of receiving it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Although the <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Act is legally binding once <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">it receives royal assent, the Plain Language Act does not confer a legal right or impose a legal obligation that is enforceable in a court of law, on any person.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Source: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/explained-new-zealands-plain-language-bill\/article66044601.ece\" style=\"text-decoration:none\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-size:11pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\"><strong><u>TH<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context Recently, New Zealand has passed the Plain Language Bill, which requires bureaucrats to use simple, easily understood language while communicating with the public. About With the law, which banishes jargon and complicated English words, New Zealand is aiming to become a more inclusive democracy and help people who speak English as their second language, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,41],"class_list":["post-5052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-miscellaneous"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7095582Screenshot_6.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}