ANEC Report
“Consumer Requirements in Standardisation relating to the Information Society” January 2003
Message by Chiara
GIOVANNINI, Programme Manager of ANEC - European Association for the
Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation:
“To be able to influence standardisation in the fast
moving high-technology ICT sector, ANEC, the consumers voice in
standardisation, elaborated this report on Consumer Requirements in
Standardisation related to the Information Society (ANEC IT008-03.pdf). The
document provides a number of generic consumer requirements and priorities for
standardisation activities in relation to the Information Society to be taken
into account when producing ICT standards and new deliverables. For ANEC,
standardisers should focus their attention on the following key requirements among other:
·
Accessibility and Adaptability
·
Child safety issues
·
Consistent user interface
·
Cost transparency
·
Design for All
·
Ease of use
·
Environmental issues
·
Interoperability and compatibility
·
Privacy and security of information
·
Quality of service, system reliability
and durability
ANEC suggests to endorse these generic consumer
requirements as a joint CEN/CENELEC/ETSI memorandum to ensure their application
across all the standardisation work in the ICT sector. This would contribute to
the production of a coherent and consistent catalogue of standards and new
deliverables even when consumer representatives are not directly involved in
the technical work, in accordance to the objectives of EU policies as reflected
in the e-Europe 2005 initiative as well as the Consumer Policy Strategy
2002-2006 of the European Commission calling for the opportunity for consumer
organisations to make an input into wider EU initiatives, which have a consumer
dimension. Proper consumer participation at all levels is vital to ensure that
the public interest is taken into account.
Moreover, we think it would be a very good idea to
make a link between your organisation web-site and ANEC web-site where the
document is easily accessible.
It will be a great pleasure for us to answer all the
questions you should have on ANEC Report on Consumer Requirements in
Standardisation related to the Information Society. Please do not hesitate to
contact us.”
The Report will be discussed at the meeting of the
ISSS Forum on 12 February 2003. It is also on the agenda of the ICTSB meeting
of 19 March 2003.
An immediate action for DATSCG is to include a
reference to the report in the paragraph on ANEC under the DATSCG web-site.