IPLF Plain Language Certification survey

If you’re from a company, government agency or other organisation and you choose to pursue writing your documents in plain language, you may be interested in the potential of being able to receive international formal certification that your communications meet plain language standards.

The IPLF have created this Plain Language Certification survey to gain information about that interest. Your responses will be kept confidential and not associated with your name or identified as coming from your organisation when the IPLF reports the results. The survey should take about 15 minutes. If you’re interested, please complete the survey by 15 January 2023.

Context

The International Plain Language Federation (IPLF) seeks to strengthen professional practice in the field of plain language. The Federation has worked with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop an ISO guidance standard on plain language, which will be published in 2023.

The potential for certification

The Federation has established a Certification Committee to assess the feasibility of setting up a plain language certification process. Certification would formally recognise that an organisation’s communications follow plain language principles. The benefits would include improved:
* communication strategies
* client/customer experience
* reputation
* brand awareness.

This survey
The IPLF would like to assess if there is interest from companies, government agencies and other organisations in how they might formally certify their communications against the ISO standard. It’s hoped that you would be willing to take this survey to help the IPLF in this regard. Note that the IPLF has not yet decided to take up plain language certification. This initial research will help the IPLF to determine the likely demand and how they might then proceed.

Click here to complete the survey by 15 January 2023.