Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Writing Blogs -> Building Rapport

Legal Writing

: Building Rapport

Clear and conspicuous credit card info required now in U.S.

The web buzzes with talk about the new U.S. credit reform law (there is mostly silence on Canada's new law).

A quick look at this tells me that there is no actual mention of "plain language" in the final version of the bill that was endorsed into law last week. Instead the term used elsewhere, mainly in the regulation of advertising, is adopted: clear and conspicuous. Forms, disclosures, and written statements must be clear and conspicuous.

In commentary and court decisions on the term, it carries many requirements for making information appear prominantly in a document, but (concerning language) we learn only that the information must be made understandable to its intended audience of consumers.

Look here for a guideline that is often quoted:

To evaluate whether a particular disclosure is clear and conspicuous, consider:

• the placement of the disclosure in an advertisement and its proximity to the claim it is qualifying,
• the prominence of the disclosure,
• whether items in other parts of the advertisement distract attention from the disclosure,
• whether the advertisement is so lengthy that the disclosure needs to be repeated,
• whether disclosures in audio messages are presented in an adequate volume and cadence and visual disclosures appear for a sufficient duration, and
• whether the language of the disclosure is understandable to the intended audience.

The New York Times plays with setting out credit terms in the familiar style of nutrition notices: 
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/05/24/opinion/23docuA.html

Full post as published by Building Rapport on May 24, 2009 (boomark / email).