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

Services Standards
Co-regulation Self-regulation Participation of
stakeholders
defects of
services, in
particular
comparative
trials or testing
and
communication
of results,
notably by
consumer
organisations 213
Ibid.
development of
voluntary
European
standards 214
5. Impact on standardisation of services
Impact on
contract law
development of
“best practice”
and appropriate
comparative
tests
The review of existing EC regulation of services allows shedding light on the
possible role and function of standardisation in the field of services, be they
vertically regulated, or subject to the horizontal approach in the Service
Directive. Standardisation competes with traditional regulation and traditional
regulators. The more closely the service in question is regulated, the less room
is left for standardisation. If the EC legislator provides leeway for
standardisation, it delegates the responsibility for setting up the necessary
regulatory framework to the standards and the consumer organisations. The
prevailing experiences are not really promising, at least not from a consumer
point of view. The Service Directive is by far the most far reaching regulatory
project in the area of services, which gives standardisation a stand. However, it
will have to be shown that the conceptual insufficiencies reappear in the quasi
New Approach to harmonising the quality of services through standardisation.
Chapter III: The new policy on services, standardisation and protection of
consumers
The sector-specific EC policy on services is well established. It is the new policy
on services which opens up perspectives for the role and function of technical
standardisation. The new EC policy on services rests on two legislative
measures – the Directives on Professional Qualifications and the Service
Directive, thereby largely neglecting the safety dimension, i.e. the safety of
213 Article 26 (4) of the Service Directive.
214 Article 26 (5) of the Service Directive.
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