Services Standards: Defining the Core Consumer Elements ... - ANEC

Hans-W. Micklitz
number of similarities and common issues such as the concept of universal
service, the different network services remain legally separated.
The same phenomenon may be observed in the field of standardisation.
Historically speaking standard-making is business-induced. This means that the
business circles which need a specific technical standard will support its
elaboration. It is a bottom-up and not a top-down approach. Sector-specific
initiatives may not create frictions as long as they are bound to merely
standardising technical specifications. However, once they overstep these
boundaries and enter into areas that affect public policy issues such as safety
or security or contract making or complaint handling, sector-specific approaches
may end up in confusion, if similar or identical issues are dealt with differently 425 .
It might suffice to refer to complaint handling and dispute resolution. Most of the
technical standards being studied here provide for some sort of complaint
handling, dispute resolution and management of consumer satisfaction. It is one
thing that the technical standards do not take the relevant EC recommendations
into account, however, it is another that the stipulations in the relevant
standards seem in no way coordinated. Each technical committee, dealing with
complaint handling and dispute resolution seems to proceed on its own
understanding.
The deficiencies in both areas in law making and standards making are
revealed by the horizontal character of consumer protection. Consumer
protection is needed whenever a service is supplied to the final consumer,
independent of the type of services. In this respect consumer law can be
understood as a device that puts pressure on legislators and standardisers to
look more systematically into the field they intend to regulate and/or
standardise.
6. Proactive and retroactive standardisation
At least at the European level standardisation of services is mainly retroactive.
The National and European Standards Bodies take action in the shadow of a
forthcoming EC directive or regulation. Then standardisation is no longer
voluntary. It is top-down standardisation. The European Commission, i.e. the
legislator becomes the key player and it designates specific tasks to the
Standards Bodies. This is abundantly clear in postal services and services
coming under the Services Directive. In both cases, the EC legislator had linked
425 Comment of an ANEC observer to the author, stressing the need for a more horizontal
approach, where appropriate.
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