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

Services Standards
The inactivity of the European Commission does not preclude European
Standards Bodies from taking the initiative. The draft proposal for an EC
directive on the liability for unsafe services, as set out by Magnus/Micklitz 253 ,
provides a set of rules which might serve as a guideline for action. This draft
proposal goes back to a study commissioned by DG SANCO which was aimed
at analysing and comparing national case law in four selected areas: home and
leisure, medial malpractices, tourism services and services of general interest.
The draft proposal, however, remained purely academic and did not entail
political consequences. It seems as if the European Commission is not willing to
get to grips with liability for the safety of services. The green paper on the
review of the consumer acquis deliberately excludes the issue from the
agenda 254 .
II.
The new EC policy on technical standards
1. DG ENTR/DG MARKET and CEN – development of a strategy
In June 2006 the European Commission via DG Enterprise and Industry (DG
ENTR) presented a background summary which allows for the re-construction
of the timing of the new initiative. History demonstrates that the European
Commission has systematically prepared the ground for standardising services
as a supplement to the Service Directive, thereby overruling possible rejections
against privatisation of safety matters. The documents enlisted below show the
strong interaction between the two DGs, ENTR and MARKET, with CEN on how
to proceed in standardisation of services.
• In October 2003 DG ENTR issued Mandate M/340 which requests a
programme of standardisation from CEN, CENELEC and ETSI to support
the Internal Market in services 255 . Mandate M/340 must be placed in the
context of the development of the Service Directive. It explicitly refers to
the overall EC policy on services and to the Council Resolution on the
Safety of Services. The major purpose of the Mandate is to invite the
European Standards Bodies to present a working programme which will
serve as a basis for further standardisation mandates.
• In December 2003 the Commission Communication on the
competitiveness of business-related services stresses the role of
standardisation in the field of services 256 . The idea here is to increase
253 Liability for the Safety of Services, 2006.
254 COM (2006) 744 final, 8.2.2007.
255 http://www.cenorm.be/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/services/m340.pdf.
256 COM (2003) 747 final, 4.12.2003 under 3.1.
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