‘Plain language’ or ‘easy speak’- call it what you want, but you need to use it: the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) requires all ‘suppliers’ to draft their customer facing documentation in a manner that their average consumer will understand. Some love this idea and others (lawyers
especially) hate it.
But what does this mean to you in your relationship with your consumer? Can the consumer demand to receive documentation in his or her home language? Does it mean that each and every consumer who enters your outlet must understand every clause in all of your agreements? The CPA deals with “plain language” in section 22 of the Act where it sets out that documentation must be provided in “plain language”, meaning that “an ordinary consumer of the class of persons for whom the notice, document or visual representation is intended, with average literacy skills and minimal experience as a consumer of the relevant goods or services, could be expected to understand the content, significance and import of the notice, document or visual representation without undue effort”.
From this it follows that if your documentation is reasonable, in that your average consumer will understand it, then it will pass the test even if not every individual consumer understands all clauses 100%. It is a given that your average consumer is unlikely to understand Latin terms, so don’t use them. The same goes for technical terms or warranty terms – explain these in a simple way so that your consumer will understand them.
It is interesting to note that the CPA does not require suppliers to translate their documents into more than one of the official languages. This approach differs from the approach in the National Credit Act (NCA), which requires credit providers to draft and adhere to a language policy – sometimes requiring that documentation be made available not only in English.
BUT: even if your documentation is written in plain language, if it was clear to you that the consumer did not understand the agreement at all, and you nevertheless continued to enter into the agreement, this will not comply with the CPA. In terms of section 40 it is unconscionable for a supplier knowingly to take advantage of the fact that a consumer was substantially unable to protect his own interests because of physical or mental disability, illiteracy, ignorance, or inability to understand the language of an agreement.
If you are in doubt about the language used in your customer facing agreements or terms and conditions, we can help you to translate your documentation from “pre – CPA” to “plain language as required by the CPA” (and NCA).
