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

4. Content of the contract
Services Standards
EC law does not directly deal with the content of the contract. In most directives
and regulations here at stake, the EC legislator indirectly defines the content of
the contract via the above-mentioned information requirements. In this respect
there is ample room for standardisation of services.
a) Affordability, minimum content, safety, quality, billing, payment
• Affordability: universal services should be affordable,
• Minimum content: The more consumer related service Directives
90/314/EEC on package tours and 94/47/EC on time share provide for a
minimum content. Other directives, including the Services Directive link
mandatory information requirements directly or indirectly to the content of
the contract,
• The following items belong to the minimum content: (1) information on
the supplier, name address (see more particularly Article 22 (1) (a) – (d)
of the Services Directive which contains detailed requirements), (2) the
price and its composition, the main characteristics of the service
according to the type of service in question, the professional qualification
of the personnel, safety standards on equipment and premises, and
whether there is a need for a degree of comfort if accommodation is
granted,
• Quality of the services 450 : services, including equipment and premises,
must be (1) either fit for the purpose for which the consumer requires
them and which he made known to the service provider at the time of the
conclusion of the contract and which the service provider has accepted,
or (2) services must be reasonably fit for the purposes for which services
of the same type are normally asked for. However, this rather general
formula would then have to be expanded on with reference to the
particular service in question,
• Safety of services: Service providers should provide for safeguard and
emergency measures. Procedures, appropriate equipment and access to
emergency services for various relevant scenarios should be specified 451 ,
450 As a working tool or as a starting point it might be helpful to use the definition provided for
on the quality of products in Article 2 Directive 99/44/EC on consumer sales. This is indeed
what some Member States are doing, such as Sweden.
451 ISO/IEC Draft Guide 76 Development of service standards – Recommendations for
addressing consumer issues, 8.12.1.
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