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

Hans-W. Micklitz
legitimacy of the New Approach. In this respect the EC initiative equally impacts
standardisation of services. The most critical points were and still are 266 :
• The still unclear status of consumer participation in standardisation –
privatisation of lawmaking or even of quasi lawmaking requires
democratic legitimacy which can be drawn only from stakeholders,
amongst others consumer organisations. ANEC’s existence depends on
the good will of two parties, CEN/CENELEC in granting access to the
work and the European Commission in providing the necessary
resources.
• The missing consumer committee on product safety – it has to be
recalled that DG SANCO had already discussed the establishment of
such a committee in the nineties but did not receive the necessary
support within the European Commission. DG SANCO’s website
mentions the Consumer Safety Working Party of which ANEC is a
member, which unites public officials from the Member States and the
EFTA countries on a voluntary basis 267 . However, no information is
publicly available of what the working party is doing. The main topics are
mentioned on the website in passing only.
• The missing European forum that enshrines the participation of
consumer organisations to discuss policy issues in the field of technical
standards. This deficiency is not compensated for by the fact that
European Consumer Consultative Group (ECCG) which unites consumer
organisations all over Europe amongst others ANEC 268 , and might
therefore deal inter alia with standards issues. ISO/CPOLOCO could be
taken as a possible model.
• The open question of whether consumer organisations should have
standing with regard to product safety matters – they should be entitled
to go to court in order to oblige producers and/or dealers to withdraw
products from the market, and even more far reaching to file an action
266 See already, Joerges/Falke/Micklitz/Brüggemeier, Die Sicherheit von Konsumgütern und
die Entwicklung der Europäischen Gemeinschaft, 1988; Micklitz, Produktsicherheit und
technische Normung in der Europäischen Gemeinschaft – zu den Leistungsmöglichkeiten
und Grenzen des Selbstregulierungsmodells als Mittel des Verbraucherschutzes, in:
Paetow/Tonner (Hrsg.), Staatliche Wirtschaftsregulierung in der Krise, 1986, pp. 109-127;
same author, Considerations Shaping Future Consumer Participation in European Product
Safety Law, in: Joerges (Hrsg.), Workshop on Product Safety and Product Liability in the
European Community, 1989, p. 182-205.
267 http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_safe/serv_safe/committees_workinggroups_en.htm.
268 http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_org/associations/committ/index_en.htm.
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