Abstract:
This paper discusses some problems about readability I find in ICC Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits，2007 Revision，ICC Publication No. 600(UCP600)，and suggests a set of guidelines for writing a more user-friendly UCP.The set of guidelines are mainly based on that of legal writing in plain English，mainly because I regard UCP as a rulebook. UCP600 is certainly an improved version compared with UCP500，especially in terms of "Plain English".However，it is still on the way to be a version of complete plain words. It has quite a few problems of "surplus words"，"the passive voice"，"elegant variations"，and so forth. They are among the disturbing or incongruous elements of plain English style advocated by Wydick(1998). The style of UCP600 seems to be a little too prose-like rather than that of a rulebook. The style，on the one hand，increases readability to some extent; however，it often produces slightly circumlocutory sentences，resulting in insidious and creaky prose. The first chapter of this paper refers to some improvements I find in UCP600. The second discusses some readability problems of UCP600，including "surplus words"，"the passive voice"，and "elegant variations". The third advances some suggestions for improvements. The fourth，as a conclusion，proposes a set of guidelines for writing a more user-friendly UCP. While this paper suggests writing in plain English，especially avoiding "elegant variations"，when making a UCP，the paper itself enjoys elegant variations. The paper is not a rulebook but an academic article.
