What is plain English drafting?
10. The expression “plain English” has been adopted by movements in the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia. In Canada they call it “plain language” because their laws are bilingual. There are different approaches, but the aim is the same: to simplify all official writing by removing unnecessary obscurity and complexity. 11. The Office policy is to draft in plain English, but to do more than that. It is to develop a whole art of making laws easy to understand. However, to avoid confusion, it’s convenient to call this policy “plain English” drafting. HOW TO DRAFT SIMPLY Skills, habits and determination 12. To draft simply you need the skills, the right habits and a lot of determination. Complex policy, lack of time and the need for precision conspire against you. If you’re to succeed, you must: • Know how to draft simply. • Cultivate good habits in all your writing, not just Bills. • Always try to draft simply, even when the difficulties mentioned above are working against you. • Always a
