Biel wants to communicate more simply and inclusively
The city of Biel wants to communicate more simply and inclusively in future. The municipal council has adopted a new ordinance on the wording of texts, as announced by the city chancellery on Tuesday.
The new ordinance sets out the general principles for inclusive communication in the city. The Biel/Bienne City Chancellery has drawn up two language guidelines to implement the ordinance, as it wrote in a press release.
One guideline regulates the use of plain and simple language for city administration texts, while the other regulates inclusive language use. This provides the city administration with a clear and common guideline.
The city intends to gradually adapt its websites, as was also reported. The original pages will not be replaced, but supplemented with new, easy-to-read versions.
The new ordinance takes into account the expectations of inclusion of non-binary people and the needs of people who have difficulties with reading comprehension, according to the City Chancellery.
The new ordinance replaces the old guidelines from 1993 and takes account of developments in language and society. (SDA/swi