European standards for easy-to-read: where the rules come from

The European easy-to-read rules come out of a project run by Inclusion Europe and its member organisations, published as Information for all: European standards for making information easy to read and understand. That document is the reason the same conventions appear in easy-to-read material from Finland to Portugal, and it is also the origin of the blue easy-to-read logo you see on covers.

The rules are not a style preference. They exist because the alternative, for a large group of readers, is being handed a document they cannot use and being asked to sign it.

What the rules actually say

The guidance divides into four areas.

Words. Use everyday words. Use the same word for the same thing throughout, even where a writer would normally vary it. Explain difficult words the first time they appear, in the text and not in a glossary at the back. Avoid metaphors, abbreviations and percentages. Write numbers as digits.

Sentences. One idea per sentence. Keep sentences short. Use the active voice. Address the reader directly as “you”. Do not split a sentence across a line break in the middle of an idea, which is why easy-to-read text is set ragged-right with deliberate line breaks rather than justified.

Layout. A clear sans-serif typeface at a large size, at least 14 point in print and larger on screen. Generous line spacing. Left-aligned, never justified. One sentence per line where possible. No text over images, no text in columns, no italics, no capitals for whole words. Images that support the meaning, placed next to the text they belong to.

Structure. Say the most important thing first. Group related information. Number the pages, and say how many pages there are in total.

The requirement that is usually skipped

The rule that distinguishes easy-to-read from any other simplification method is this: the text must be checked by people with intellectual disabilities before it is published, and their feedback has to change the text.

This is not a courtesy consultation. It is the validation step, and it is what the logo is meant to certify. A document that follows every layout convention but was never read by the people it is for has not been made easy-to-read; it has been made to look like it.

In practice this is also the step that determines cost and timeline. It requires a trained review group, a session where the text is read and discussed, and time to rework. Anyone quoting easy-to-read translation on a same-day turnaround is not including it.

Easy-to-read and the law

Easy-to-read sits inside a legal framework even though it is rarely named in it directly.

Article 21 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires states to provide information intended for the general public in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disability. Article 9 covers access to information generally, and Article 29 requires that voting procedures and materials be easy to understand and use, which is the direct basis for easy-to-read election information. The connection to elections is set out on our page about the right to vote.

WCAG touches the same ground from a different angle at level AAA, in success criterion 3.1.5 Reading Level, but the AAA level is not the target of any European legal requirement, so easy-to-read provision is generally a policy commitment rather than a compliance obligation.

National variants

The European rules are the common base, but several countries have built their own layer on top.

In Germany, Leichte Sprache is codified partly through the Netzwerk Leichte Sprache rulebook and partly through DIN SPEC 33429, which sets out recommendations for German easy language. It is stricter than the European base in some respects and is separate again from Einfache Sprache, plain language, which is a different register with a different audience. We cover that distinction on our German-language page.

In Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, established organisations produce easy-to-read news and literature at scale, and the register has a longer public tradition than in most of Europe. Hurraki, a German easy-language dictionary written as a wiki, is one of the better-known open resources and shows the model working outside institutional publishing.