SIST-TP CEN/TR 14709:2006

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2006
Poštne storitve – Kakovost storitve – Vodilo za uvajanje EN 13850
Postal services - Quality of service - Guide for the implementation of EN 13850
Service postal - Qualité de service - Guide d'implémentation de l'EN 13850
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TR 14709:2003
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

TECHNICAL REPORT
CEN/TR 14709
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
September 2003
ICS 03.240
English version
Postal services - Quality of service - Guide for the
implementation of EN 13850
th
This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 13 September 2003. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC 331.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United
Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
Management Centre: rue de Stassart, 36  B-1050 Brussels
© 2003 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TR 14709:2003 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents
Foreword.3
Introduction .3
1 Scope .3
2 Purpose and use of postal quality of service standards.4
2.1 General.4
2.2 Benefits of the quality of service standards .4
2.3 Limitations of EN 13850 .4
2.4 Interpretation of results .4
2.5 Use of survey results for quality improvement. .5
3 Considerations before implementing the EN 13850 .5
3.1 Regulations .5
3.2 Measuring body (Contractors for survey operation).5
3.3 Real mail information.6
4 Implementing the standard.6
4.1 Steps to consider before implementation.6
4.2 Considerations in case of multiple operators .7
4.3 Extension to a wider EU.8
4.4 General guidelines for regulators.10
4.5 Adjustments to design requirements to take account of national peculiarities. .10
4.6 Reporting of results. .11
5 Information regarding the interpretation of specific clauses and formulae in the standard .12
Annex A  Implementation timetable.19
Foreword
This document (CEN/TR 14709:2003) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331, "Postal services",
the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following
countries are bound to announce this CEN Technical Report: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Introduction
This Technical Report is supplementary to EN 13850 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of transit
time of end-to-end services for single piece priority mail and first class mail.
It provides information to be considered when implementing the EN 13850. It has been developed to guide postal
operators and regulators as to the use, benefits and restrictions of EN 13850. The first part of this report contains
general information to guide regulators and operators in their decision on how and when to implement the
standard. The second part of the report contains detailed information on how to interpret specific clauses in
EN 13850 and should be read in parallel with the standard.
In addition to referencing this technical report, those seeking to implement the standard are advised to consult
requirements and guidance from the national regulators and legislation that apply in their jurisdictions.
EN 13850 provides a defined set of minimum requirements to satisfy the information interests of the national
regulatory authorities, postal customers and postal service providers for quality of service measurement, and to
allow postal service providers to comply with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European
Commission.
1 Scope
This Technical Report is an implementation guide to EN 13850 for use by postal operators, regulators and those
responsible for commissioning, carrying out, or auditing the measurement of postal service quality. It gives
information, which will facilitate the implementation of EN 13850. It gives an overview of the processes required
and factors to consider when measuring quality of service. It provides guidance on alternative approaches allowed
in the Standard including how to select and calculate alternative or additional discriminant factors and methods for
weighting of strata. It describes a process for implementation of the measurement system, and provides examples
and clarification on specific requirements of EN 13850. It gives information on how to interpret the test results
obtained by measurement according to the standard.
This Technical Report does not alter in any way the requirements of EN 13850. It is concerned with technical
issues in the implementation of the measurement system. The Technical Report provides guidance but it does not
specify how the regulators shall enforce and monitor the use of the standard since this is the responsibility of the
European Commission and the national regulatory authorities themselves.
Parts of this Technical Report may also be considered for guidance when implementing the following quality of
service standards:
— prCEN/TS 14773 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of loss of non-registered mail
— EN 14508 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for
single piece non-priority and second class mail
— prEN 14534 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for
bulk mail
2 Purpose and use of postal quality of service standards
2.1 General
EN 13850 Postal services - Quality of service - Measurement of transit time of end-to-end services for single piece
priority mail and first class mail has been developed in order to provide a standardised method that can be used
throughout Europe for measuring the transit time of end-to-end mail services and to assist postal service providers
in complying with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European Commission.
For the implementation of EN 13850 and to guide the user of this and other quality of service standards the
following facts and precautions may be considered.
EN 13850 contains a number of requirements which may be agreed with or should be approved by national postal
regulators.
EN 13850 specifies technical requirements for the measurement including the preparation of reports on the results
of measurement. However EN 13850 does not state how and when results should be shared with postal customers
and users, who will order measurement to take place, and who will pay for the measurement; these subjects are
outside the standard and will be determined by legal and regulatory requirements.
2.2 Benefits of the quality of service standards
The standardised quality of service measuring methods provide a uniform way for measuring the end-to-end transit
time of postal items. Postal regulators can refer to the standard when requiring information about quality of service
for postal operators. For any minimum service levels required by the European Commission or by national
Directives for operators in the universal service, requirements can be made that the service be measured according
to EN 13850.
Standardised measurement methods may help to keep the cost of measuring down. They could also make it easier
to find contractors familiar with the methods and to evaluate the work of contractors for measuring and auditing.
The standardised measuring methods may also eliminate debates and uncertainties about results from varying
measuring methods.
Using standardised measuring methods will assure that the measurement will be done in an objective and equal
way for all operators in accordance with the requirements of the 1997 Postal Directive of the European
Commission.
The use of standards will ensure that reliable and correct information can be collected which can be presented to
regulators and the public in an understandable way. It also allows the regulator to collect this information.
2.3 Limitations of EN 13850
The standard considers only the measurement of transit time (expressed as the percentage of mail delivered within
J + n days end-to-end) and does not consider other aspects of service performance. For example, the date of
deposit is defined by the last collection of the day but the standard does not measure whether the timing of the last
collection of the day meets customers’ requirement, nor how the times compare for different service providers.
Similarly the standard considers the date of delivery but does not take into account the time of day when the item
was delivered, whether or not there are more than one delivery each day, the condition of items when delivered or
the queuing time at post offices etc.
Although the standard specifies a method that will be used by many postal operators, it shall be noted that the
overall transit time quality of service result does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way
that provides direct comparison of postal service operators.
2.4 Interpretation of results
Results from the quality of service measuring cannot always be used for direct comparison of the overall quality of
service.
Direct comparison of two operators can be difficult to make. Frequently one is interested in comparing two
operators covering the same geographical area, i.e. the quality that a customer receives when using one or other of
the operators for collecting and distributing mail within an area. To do this, it is necessary to compare the transit
time of the operators over similar studies of domains. The two overall figures of the operators’ on-time performance
may be misleading.
When interpreting the results from the measurement it is important also to consider the stratification and national
and other peculiarities that apply in each specific case.
2.5 Use of survey results for quality improvement.
The standard sets out minimum requirements in order to produce one overall figure. It is recognised that operators
or other bodies may wish to go beyond these minimum requirements in order to produce information to identify and
correct specific areas of poor performance. The survey design can be expanded to collect this information.
EN 13850 provides minimum requirements and allows measurement systems to be enhanced. It should be noted
that other methods are available to find problematic areas and that the standard may not be the only method to use
for this purpose.
EN 13850 allows the use of test items containing electronic chips or other advanced technology so that each test
item can be monitored at pre-defined points or throughout its whole journey to allow for more detailed diagnostic
analysis of the transit time. If these are used, the organisation operating the measuring system shall take steps to
ensure that the diagnostic system does not introduce biases in the end-to-end measurement system.
3 Considerations before implementing the EN 13850
3.1 Regulations
The standard itself is not meant to specify how the regulators shall enforce and monitor the use of the standard.
This is to be done through the European and national regulatory work. In particular it does not specify how results
shall be published by the regulator.
3.2 Measuring body (Contractors for survey operation)
EN 13850 states that measurement shall be carried out by an independent performance-monitoring organisation.
This is defined as a body charged with the
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