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

Services Standards
law making and standard-making in the text of the relevant Directives. In this
respect European and National Standards Bodies are pushed into action.
National and European Standards Bodies do not really benefit from the leeway
which is left to them even by the legislator. The review process revealed
endless fields of possible activities where the national and the European
legislator remain silent, where there is room for standardisation, not only for
contract formation and rights and remedies, but in particular with regard to
education and skills, equipment and premises, and, last but not least,
monitoring and inspection.
A notable exception to the rule is the French and German standards on
residential homes for the elderly. There has been no legal-political pressure
from the EU and none from the Member States. The law, at least with regard to
contractual rights and duties, is still underdeveloped. The two initiatives might
be triggered off by market desires. In this respect they are proactive.
7. The gap between codes/guides/recommendations and concrete
standards
There is an obvious gap between the codes of practice, the guides and
recommendations that are developed at national, European or international
level, and the degree to which these are referred to, or integrated in concrete
standards.
None of the technical standards here under review, with the sole exception of
the French NF 50-056 on ‘Services for resident people’, and NF X 50-058 on
‘Residential homes for the elderly’, set out the legal environment in a clear cut
way. This is also true with regard to the two Recommendations 98/257/EC and
2001/310/EC on dispute settlement and mediation, which only provide for nonbinding
rules. However, the concrete technical standards neither refer to the
relevant ISO 10002 on complaint handling, nor integrate the work invested
already in draft ISO DIS 10003 on complaint handling, although these provide
much clearer guidance than the concrete standards do.
II.
Leading principles and best practice
1. The leading principles in light of the general observations
The concept of best practice allowed for the development of five leading
principles:
• completeness,
• innovation,
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