Do you understand what we say? Plain language and how to communicate better with our citizens (we are trying

PLAIN LANGUAGE AND HOW TO COMMUNICATE BETTER WITH OUR CITIZENS (WE ARE TRYING!)

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WE SAY?

The importance of clarity in the justice communication with the citizens makes it essential to strengthen the collaboration with the judicial system by promoting new models of communication between the court and the citizen, in order to encourage the use of plain language, accessible to recipients, especially in the citations and notifications sent by the courts. With this objective as a priority, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice, through the Directorate-General for Justice Policy (DGPJ), began to implement Measure 118 in 2016, in the context of the Closer Justice Plan https://justicamaisproxima. justica.gov.pt/, tending to simplify the language used in communications between the court and the citizen, especially in the citations and notifications that constitute the acts that usually make known the existence of an action or fact in court, or possibly call someone to court.

The need to implement this measure is immense, both for its potential results, in terms of greater clarity in understanding the information conveyed, and for the universe of recipients covered. The difficulty in understanding the technical language used by the courts is one of the effects that is sought to reduce, better integrating the citizens in the structure of the justice functioning and making them more aware of their rights and duties. One of the challenges of this process is the ability to simplify the legal language without losing the due technicality in the form produced.

The selection of the models of acts to be simplified took into account the greater frequency of their use. In view of the complexity and specificity of the task of language simplification, DGPJ contracted

the acquisition of services to the company Português Claro (https://claro.pt/), dedicated to this simplification activity. The simplification process included the following phases: As a result, some difficulties were identified, accompanied

1

Context analysis

Understand processes, systems and stakeholders

2

Structure mapping

Group and organize information

Analyse the models Analyse procedures Interview stakeholders Analyse and map the contents of the models Identify information gaps Optimize the structure to group information

3

Layout redesign

Use design to highlight the most important information

Create a new layout, compatible with the production system Use the design for easy reading

4

Content rewriting

Use clear language

Choose familiar words Make short sentences and paragraphs Use concise sentences Write in the active voice Reveal vigorous verbs

5

User tests

Refine layout and language

Apply the tests Analyse the results Share the conclusions Make the necessary corrections

Source: Português Claro

by the respective proposed solutions. These changes concern several aspects of the documents, namely the visual orientation of the reading, the need to include as much useful information as possible, the elimination of footnotes, the importance of grouping content by topic, the use of common words and the explanation of the legal terms used and the need to avoid grammatical gender distinctions.

Problem Identified

There is no highlight that identifies the main sections of the letter Where is the purpose of this letter expressed?

Insignificant highlights: bold sequences too short and without context The purpose highlighted at the beginning, in a shaded text box Proposed solution

The most important messages, in bold, focus the reader's eye, providing a rich and accurate diagonal reading

Text column too wide for font size

Contents barely legible: letter too small and in italics

Additional information in the left column, with grey text: • explanation of legal terms • examples • contacts

Identification, in the document itself, of the language difficulties of a document in use and what is promoted to change, with regard to the need for visual guidance of reading; Source: Português Claro Two narrower text columns

The first phase of the simplification project focused on the payment order procedure (procedure that seeks, for example, the possibility of collecting a debt), provided for in Decree-Law No. 269/98, of 1 September. In this sense, the text of the notification forms was reformulated, observing the rules of plain language, allowing to streamline the processes of collecting small debts. In this regard, it is possible to identify the added value of using an accessible language on the part of citizens, as can be seen in the data presented. It should be noted that the new forms began to be used by the courts in June 2017.

Currently, the language simplification process has already

identified the most frequent forms within the scope of certain actions, and new templates are being finalized and will be used in the future.

Another current challenge is to internalize the construction process and make the use of correct, yet simple and accessible language systematic and permanent, in communications with citizens and businesses. In this sense, already in 2020, the Directorate-General for Justice Policy set up the Unit for Simplification and Analysis of Processes, in whose competences these tasks are integrated.