Legislation that requires plain language

Legislation that requires plain language

May 2, 2009 – 7:33 am by Jana Van Zyl

There are various laws that require the use of plain legal language. In this article we focus on legislation that requires plain language communications. In our experience, people either don’t know or tend to ignore the plain language requirements when drafting documents. If any of the following legislation applies to you, you will break the law if you don’t comply with the plain language requirements.

There are eight pieces of legislation where plain language is required and eleven where it is referenced

There are very good business reasons to communicate and draft documents in plain language. In this article we deal with the legal requirement to do so. There are eight pieces of legislation where plain language is required and eleven where it is referenced.

Examples of legislation where plain language is required

Let’s look at some specific important examples where it is a requirement:

Consumer Protection Act: under section 22 there is a “right to information in plain and understandable language“.
National Credit Act 34 of 2005: section 64 makes provision for the “Right to information in plain and understandable language”.
Long-Term Insurance Act 52 of 1998 and Short-Term Insurance Act 53 of 1998: The Rules and Regulations make provision for representations and information to a policyholder in “plain language, avoid[ing] uncertainty or confusion and not be[ing] misleading”.
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