Normally I don’t comment publicly on any kind of writing other than that contained in contracts. I have my hands full as it is.
But I was on the receiving end of a cry of despair on Twitter:
An example or really lame legalese. Who writes these things @KonciseD ? https://t.co/ukofrUMgiY
— Winstonian Smith (@W1nstonian) September 3, 2016
Here’s what @W1instonian was referring to:
It's official: The U.S. and China have entered into the #ParisAgreement: https://t.co/RQIMfGp7rg pic.twitter.com/7IPK6WAeZD
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) September 3, 2016
So for the heck of it, here’s my rewrite:
ACCEPTING ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, have considered the Paris Agreement, which was adopted on December 12, 2015, and signed on behalf of the United States of America on April 22, 2016. On behalf of the United States of America, I now accept the Paris Agreement in its entirety.
Signed in Washington on August 29, 2016.
Once you’ve started a job… There’s a whole set of these things in a United Nations guidebook (see toward the end of the document) and that’s just the English language version!:
http://treaties.un.org/doc/source/publications/THB/English.pdf
If you lead with “All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, i.e., electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the United Nations.” in a document freely available and downloadable you have already demonstrated that you are not overly concerned with the meaningfulness of your document.