8 December 2021
Vera Gergely, Chair, International Plain Language Federation
The good news about ISO’s draft plain language standard is that we have a close-to-final draft. Even better, the standard is versatile and easy to use. It works in most languages and cultures, and in all sectors.
The ISO Working Group that prepared the current draft has experts from 25 countries, on every continent except Antarctica. Between them, those experts speak 17 languages and work in a wide-range of roles and organizations. Many of the experts on the Working Group are members of at least one of Clarity, PLAIN, the Center for Plain Language, and the International Institute of Information Design. Also each of those organizations is an official Liaison Organization to the Working Group. Also Clarity, PLAIN, and the Center each consulted their members on a draft of the standard.
Thank you to all involved.
The not-so-good news is that the likely date for publication of the standard will be about a year later than we originally expected. The reason for the delay is that we are in discussion with ISO over language typically used in its standards. This discussion is taking longer than expected. When the process is complete, the draft will go through ISO’s normal publication approval processes.
All being well, the standard should be published in mid-2022.
More information?
If you would like more information:
- About the work of the International Plain Language Federation’s committee to localize and implement the standard, contact the Chair, Gael Spivak, gael@iplfederation.org.
- Read about how you can be involved in developing the standard with your country’s national standards body.
- To learn more about the standard’s journey so far, see the timeline.