Out on a Highnote
Arnold Pindar NCF Chairman writes: I take great satisfaction from seeing the revision of ISO/IEC[1] GUIDE 76:2020 through to publication. It is a good note on which to end more than 20 years work with ISO/COPOLCO. I joined in 1997 and chaired their Priorities Committee for five years.
The revised Guide provides guidance on how to meet the needs of consumers in the development of service standards. It can be used by anyone involved in the development of service standards and can be applied to any service.
Relevant to full range of services
This extensive revision is relevant to the full range of services, whether or not a formal contract is entered into or purchase price paid. It also has relevance for public or charitable services, e.g. education, health and care provision, where a financial transaction has not necessarily taken place.
Consumer Interests fully covered
Consumer organisations do not have the resources to send representatives to every standard’s technical committee and working group that is developing standards for services. Hence, this Guide is an important tool to fill this gap, providing essential information to these committees to ensure consumer interests are fully covered in the published standards.
Focused on the fundamental consumer rights, this revision simplifies the previous version to encourage greater take up by standards developers throughout the world.
We particularly thank NCF collaborators Julie Hunter and Gretel Jones for their considerable contributions to the revision of the Guide.
Acronyms explained:
ISO/IEC: International Organisation for Standardisation / International Electrotechnical Commission
ISO/COPOLCO WG18: The International Organisation for Standardisation’s Committee on Consumer Policy, Working Group 18 – Consumer Issues in Services