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

Hans-W. Micklitz
If Member States are no longer able to restrict the freedom to provide services
under reference to consumer protection rules, by way of public law restrictions,
there is even greater pressure to set common standards on professional
qualifications so as to guarantee an adequate level of consumer protection.
c) Information requirements
Following the insurance directives, the Service Directive provides that the
service provider is obliged to make information available to the recipient which
refers to the person of the provider (name, legal status and form, where he is
registered, if necessary the authorisation, membership in professional
organisations – Article 22 (1)), and to the contract to be concluded (standard
contract terms, proposed place of jurisdiction, after-sales guarantees, price,
main features of the contract, professional liability insurance and guarantees
(Article 23)). On request, the service recipient is entitled to additional
information (Article 22 III), where the price is not pre-determined, on the price of
the service or the method of calculation, for regulated professions the
professional rules applicable in the particular Member State, codes of conduct,
and access to and conditions of the use of non-judicial means of dispute
settlement (Article 27)).
The legal quality of the information requirements differs depending on whether
the service provider is established in the host Member State or is providing a
cross-border service. This could best be explained by way of an example. If the
service provider is settled in Member State A and he provides a cross-border
services to Member State B, Member State B is not allowed to impose
additional information requirements on him. In this respect the information
requirements in Article 22 are exhaustive. However, if the service provider who
has his main office in Member State A, establishes a subsidiary in Member
State B, the latter remains free to adopt additional, more stringent, information
requirements applicable to all those service providers who have settled in
Member State, i.e. the host country. That is why host Member States are
indirectly allowed to restrict the freedom of establishment.
cc)
Impact on standardisation on services
The Service Directive severely restricts the leeway for European
standardisation in developing information requirements on cross border
services. As far as the service in question is covered by the scope of application
of the Directive, European standards on services as elaborated by
CEN/CENELEC could come into conflict with Article 22 which prohibits
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