The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (PDF) [1] requires federal agencies to write "clear Government communication that the public can understand and use." President Obama also emphasized the importance of establishing "a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration" in his January 21, 2009, Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government.
The Economics and Statistics Administration is committed to writing new documents in plain language by October 2011, using the Federal Plain Language Guidelines.
We need your help to comply with this Act! Let us know if you have trouble understanding our documents or the pages on our Web site. Please contact us at ESAwebmaster@doc.gov [2] and include “Plain Language” in the subject line.
We are training our employees and have created an oversight process. We will use plain language in any document that:
• is necessary for obtaining any federal government benefit or service or filing taxes;
• provides information about any federal government benefit or service; or
• explains to the public how to comply with a requirement that the federal government administers or enforces.
Again, please don’t hesitate to contact us at ESAwebmaster@doc.gov [2] with any suggestions for how to improve the plain language of anything we have written. Jo Caldwell and Jacque Mason are our PLAIN Language Points of Contact, and they are dedicated to help oversee our efforts toward well-organized, clear, and concise communications. You are also welcome to contact the Department of Commerce directly at PlainLanguage@doc.gov [3].
We will report our progress and compliance with the Act by July 13, 2011. As required by the Act, we will post an annual report about our compliance with the requirements. The report will be published October 13, 2011. Plain Language Compliance Report July 2011. [4]