Standardization in the field of services

Contact: Bettina Palka (palka@kan.de)

Standardization is considered an important means of liberalising cross-border trade in services and removing obstacles to trade. If standards are drawn up for services, it is inevitable that they will include references to the people who perform the services. Consequently, such standards can include requirements concerning protection for the service providers, which are actually only permitted to be enforced by the individual states as part of their implementation of OH&S directives based on Article 137 of the EC Treaty and which conflict with the principles set out in the German Consensus Statement. KAN's position is consequently that standards governing services should address the safety of the consumer, but not that of the provider of the service.

For further information on the subject, see:

• KANBrief 2/08: European Commission supports standardization of services
• KANBrief 3/06: Services – Standardization and occupational health and safety
• KAN expert report on standardization and services in the WTO GATS agreement
• Standardization of services – Comments by the OH&S groups within KAN regarding the treatment of OH&S issues
• KANBrief 4/02: Special on services