Standards are everywhere, making consumers’ lives safer, fairer, and easier. Whether you are using a mobile phone, shopping online, buying a car, using a washing machine, or traveling abroad there are numerous standards behind the scenes setting good practice for organizations that provide services.

Standards are an agreed way of doing something. They provide detail on ‘what good looks like’ helping organizations to make better decisions and achieve positive change. Standards can cover products, services, processes, ethics, and values.

Standards are a valuable tool in the consumer protection toolkit, working alongside regulation, policy, and enforcement.

Why is Good Consumer Practice Important for Service Organizations?

Organizations that don’t follow good practices place consumers at risk of harm. Poor service and unfair treatment can lead to detriment such as:

• Adverse effect on health

• Breaches of online privacy or security

• Inconvenience and stress

• Financial loss

• Negative impact on the environment

• Restricted access to goods and services

• Serious injury or even death

To learn about the topic of corporate social responsibility and governance in the service industry, click here.

How do Standards Support Consumer Protection in Service Organizations?

A range of consumer protection tools such as legislation, regulation, enforcement agencies, charities, and consumer groups and standards, work together to protect consumers from harm. 

Standards are a valuable part of the consumer protection toolkit complementing:

Legislation - standards are voluntary but, in some sectors, legislation references specific standards, which help organizations to achieve compliance with the law e.g. toys and domestic appliances.

Regulators – standards can provide detailed guidance for regulated firms about good practices e.g. Ofgem references BS 18477 in its consumer vulnerability strategy.

Policy – standards can support policy e.g. energy efficiency labeling

Consumer groups – organizations, such as Which?, use standards in comparative product testing.

Enforcement agencies – if consumers have a problem with an organization, standards can be used as a benchmark of good practice in a court of law.

Standards are a powerful consumer protection tool because:

• The consumer's voice is included in their development - standards are developed by expert working groups, which must include all key stakeholders including consumers.

• Consumers have a real opportunity to influence outcomes - standards are developed by consensus, which means that expert groups must reach a shared agreement on the content.

• International standards can tackle cross-border consumer issues, improving consistency of protection.

• Standards can be developed more quickly than legislation, allowing them to be responsive to new consumer challenges.

Which Standards Support Consumer Protection?

There are many standards that can help service organizations protect their consumers and, in turn, inspire trust in their organization. Some of the key ones include:

BS 10012:2017+A1:2018 Data protection. Specification for a personal information management system.

Protecting the personal information of your customers has never been so important. As legal requirements such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) are developed and enforced, organizations need to demonstrate that they take managing privacy seriously. BS 10012 provides a best practice framework for a personal information management system that is aligned to the principles of the EU GDPR. It outlines the core requirements organizations need to consider when collecting, storing, processing, retaining, or disposing of personal records related to individuals.

BS ISO 10002:2018 Quality management. Customer satisfaction. Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations.

BS ISO 10002:2018 gives guidelines on how a complaint handling process should be put in place. It’s one in a series on customer satisfaction, the others being:

• BS ISO 10001 Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for codes of conduct for organizations

• BS ISO 10003 Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for dispute resolution external to organizations

• BS ISO 10004 Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for monitoring and measuring

It provides guidance on the process of complaints handling as it relates to an organization’s products and services, including their planning, design, development, operation, maintenance, and improvement. The complaints-handling process described is suitable for use as one of the processes of an overall quality management system.

BS ISO 23592:2021 Service excellence. Principles and model.

BS ISO 23592:2021 specifies service excellence terminology, principles, and model to achieve outstanding customer experience and sustainable customer delight. It does not focus on the provision of basic customer service but on the provision of excellent service. This standard applies to all organizations delivering services, such as commercial organizations, public services, and not-for-profit organizations

BS ISO 20488:2018 Online consumer reviews. Principles and requirements for their collection, moderation, and publication.

Online reviews have a growing influence on consumers’ purchasing decisions, making it vital that sites build confidence in the quality, integrity, accuracy, and transparency of reviews. BS ISO 20488:2018 sets out requirements for review administrators to apply to the way they collect, moderate, and publish online consumer reviews. The goal is to help organizations demonstrate that they value their customers and are committed to providing reviews that consumers can trust.

Want to access and manage the standards you need to ensure you are protecting your consumers and meeting regulations - all in one place? With a BSI Knowledge subscription, you will have the flexibility and visibility to manage the essential standards you need in order to work with your consumers with confidence and optimize your customer satisfaction processes. Build your own custom collection of standards, or opt for access to a pre-built module and keep up-to-date with any relevant changes to your standards strategy. Request to learn more.

Ensure your service organization is working to consumer protection best practices by adding these standards to your collection today.