EU Translation Guide

European Commission staff have to write many different types of documents. Whatever the type - legislation, a technical report, minutes, a press release or speech - a clear document will be more effective, and more easily and quickly understood. This guide will help you to write clearly whether you are using your own language or one of the other official languages, all of which are also working languages of the Commission according to Council Regulation No 1/1998 (still valid today!)

There are hints, not rules, and when applying them you should take account of your target readers and the purpose of your document.

Three good reasons to write clearly are:

to work more effectively together
to reduce unnecessary correspondence
to build goodwill.