Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Plain Language Act 2022

Preliminary provisions

4: Interpretation

You could also call this:

“This part explains what important words mean in the Plain Language Act”

This part of the law explains what certain words mean in the Plain Language Act 2022. Here’s what you need to know:

The Commissioner is the person in charge of the public service. They are chosen according to rules in another law called the Public Service Act 2020.

A Crown agent is a special type of government organisation. You can find a list of these in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Crown Entities Act 2004.

The Minister is the person in the government who is in charge of this law. The Prime Minister decides who this will be.

Plain language has a special meaning in this law. You can find out what it means in section 5 of this Act.

When the law talks about the public, it can mean all people or just some groups of people.

A public service agency is a government department or organisation. There’s a list of these in section 10(a) of the Public Service Act 2020.

A relevant document is something important for this law. You can find out what counts as a relevant document in section 6 of this Act.

A reporting agency is either a Crown agent or a public service agency. These are the organisations that have to follow this law.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM4357608.

Topics:
Government and voting > Government departments
Rights and equality > Anti-discrimination
Previous

3: Purpose, or

“This law explains why we need easy-to-understand words in government papers”

Next

5: What is plain language, or

“Plain language means using simple words everyone can understand”

Part 1 Preliminary provisions

4Interpretation

  1. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

    Commissioner means the Public Service Commissioner appointed under section 42 of the Public Service Act 2020

      Crown agent means a statutory entity named in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Crown Entities Act 2004

        Minister means the Minister of the Crown who, under the authority of any warrant or with the authority of the Prime Minister, is responsible for the administration of this Act

          plain language has the meaning set out in section 5

            public includes a section of the public

              public service agency means any of the agencies listed in section 10(a) of the Public Service Act 2020

                relevant document has the meaning set out in section 6

                  reporting agency means a Crown agent or a public service agency.