Services account for between 60 and 70% of the economic activity in the 28 Member States of the European Union. For this reason, the creation of a single market for services has become a top priority for Europe. Standardization is increasingly being used to support the development of the single market for services. The creation and use of European standards can contribute to fostering cross-border trade as well as enhancing safety and performance and ensuring the protection of consumers and the environment.
Standards can set benchmarks against which businesses can measure the quality and performance of their own services or the services they are purchasing, thus improving transparency, competitiveness and increasing efficiency.
Service standards are a useful tool to promote best practices, to spread knowledge throughout the market and to define a common terminology relevant to different services’ sectors. They are increasingly being used in the area of professional qualification and also in areas such as healthcare services.
Some standards are also developed to ensure a certain level of the quality in the provision of services setting out a common and repeatable basis for doing things. They help providers organize their business, clarify the roles and responsibilities of the service provider and demonstrate to their customers that their services meet appropriate levels of safety and quality.