SIST EN 14012:2019
(Main)Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling principles
Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling principles
This European Standard specifies complaints handling principles related to domestic and international postal services. It applies to both national and cross border services. The standard also gives guidance for compensation and redress procedures.
This European Standard may be applied to all types of postal service both Universal service and non-universal service and by all types of postal organizations. It defines various types of complaints and establishes a methodology for handling complaints in order to improve the service given to postal users. It also gives guidance for complaints handling processes to be set up by postal service providers in order to improve quality of service.
This European Standard provides guidelines beyond the requirements given in ISO 10002 and ISO 9001 in order to consider both the effectiveness and efficiency of a complaint handling process, and consequently the potential for improvement of the performance of an organization. When compared to ISO 9001, the objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended to include the satisfaction of interested parties and the performance of the organization.
This European Standard is applicable to the processes of the organization and consequently the quality management principles on which it is based can be deployed throughout the organization.
It should be noted that the number of complaints received might not be related to the level of service given. A large number of complaints may on the contrary reflect the effectiveness of the postal operator's complaint handling process.
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Dienstqualität - Grundsätze der Bearbeitung von Beschwerden
Dieses Dokument legt Grundsätze zur Bearbeitung von Beschwerden bezüglich inländischer und internationaler Postdienste fest. Sie gilt sowohl für nationale als auch für grenzüberschreitende Dienstleistungen. Besondere Beachtung wird Situationen beigemessen, in denen mit Beschwerden umgegangen werden muss, an denen mehrere Betreiber beteiligt sind. Die Norm stellt außerdem eine Anleitung für Entschädigungsverfahren dar.
Dieses Dokument kann auf alle Postdienst-Arten angewendet werden, sowohl auf den Universaldienst als auch auf den Nicht-Universaldienst sowie auf alle Arten von Postorganisationen. Es definiert verschiedene Beschwerdearten und beschreibt einen Beschwerdebearbeitungsprozess zur Verbesserung der Dienstleistung für Nutzer von postalischen Dienstleistungen. Es gibt auch eine Anleitung für Beschwerdebearbeitungsprozesse, die von Postdienstanbietern eingesetzt werden müssen, um die Dienstqualität zu verbessern.
Dieses Dokument gibt Richtlinien, die über die in ISO 10002 und EN ISO 9001 angegebenen Anforderungen hinausgehen, um sowohl die Effektivität als auch die Effizienz eines Beschwerdebearbeitungsprozesses und nachfolgend das Potential zur Verbesserung der Leistungsfähigkeit einer Organisation zu berücksichtigen. Im Vergleich zu EN ISO 9001 werden die Ziele der Kundenzufriedenheit und Produktqualität erweitert, um die Zufriedenheit von interessierten Parteien und die Leistungsfähigkeit der Organisation einzubeziehen.
Dieses Dokument gilt für die Verfahren der Organisation; somit können die Grundsätze des Qualitätsmanagements, auf denen die Norm basiert, in der gesamten Organisation angewendet werden. Der Schwerpunkt dieses Dokuments liegt im Erreichen einer ständigen Verbesserung, gemessen an der Zufriedenheit der Kunden und anderer interessierter Parteien.
Es gilt zu beachten, dass die Anzahl der entgegengenommenen Beschwerden möglicherweise nicht mit dem Grad der Dienstleistung in Beziehung gebracht werden kann. Im Gegensatz dazu kann eine große Anzahl von Beschwerden die Effektivität des Beschwerdebearbeitungsprozesses des Postbetreibers widerspiegeln.
Dieses Dokument besteht aus einer Leitlinie und Empfehlungen und ist weder zur Zertifizierung, zur behördlichen Anwendung oder zur Anwendung in Verträgen, noch als ein Leitfaden für die Umsetzung von EN ISO 9001 vorgesehen.
Die Beziehung zur zweiten Ausgabe dieser Europäischen Norm wird in Anhang I erläutert.
Services postaux - Qualité du service - Principes de traitement des réclamations
Le présent document précise les principes de traitement des réclamations liés aux services postaux nationaux et internationaux. Il s'applique aux services tant nationaux que transfrontières. Une attention particulière est portée sur la manière de traiter les réclamations dans des situations impliquant plusieurs opérateurs. La norme donne également des lignes directrices relatives aux procédures de dédommagement et de réparation.
Le présent document peut être appliqué à tous les types de services postaux, service universel et non universel, ainsi que par tous les types d'organismes postaux. Il définit divers types de réclamations et établit une méthodologie pour le traitement des réclamations afin d'améliorer le service fourni aux usagers du service postal. Il donne également des lignes directrices pour les processus de traitement des réclamations devant être mis en place par les prestataires de services postaux afin d'améliorer la qualité du service.
Le présent document fournit des lignes directrices au-delà des exigences formulées dans l’ISO 10002 et l’EN ISO 9001 afin de prendre en compte tant l'efficacité que le bon fonctionnement d'un processus de traitement de réclamations et, par voie de conséquence, le potentiel pour l'amélioration de la performance d'un organisme. En comparaison de l’EN ISO 9001, les objectifs de satisfaction du client et de qualité du produit ont été étendus pour inclure la satisfaction des parties intéressées et la performance de l'organisme.
Le présent document est applicable aux processus de l'organisme et, par voie de conséquence, les principes de gestion de la qualité sur lesquels il est basé peuvent être déployés dans tout l'organisme. Le présent document vise à l’obtention d’une amélioration continue, mesurée à travers la satisfaction des clients et des autres parties intéressées.
Il importe de noter que le nombre de réclamations peut ne pas être lié au niveau du service fourni. Au contraire, un grand nombre de réclamations peut refléter, pour l'opérateur, l'efficacité de son processus de traitement des réclamations.
Le présent document, qui consiste en des lignes directrices et en des recommandations, n'est censé ni servir pour des besoins de certification, de régulation ou des besoins contractuels, ni être un guide de mise en œuvre de l’EN ISO 9001.
La relation avec la deuxième édition du présent document est décrite dans l’Annexe I.
Poštne storitve - Kakovost storitve - Načela ravnanja s pritožbami
Ta evropski standard določa načela ravnanja s pritožbami, povezanimi z lokalnimi in mednarodnimi poštnimi storitvami. Navezuje ne na nacionalne in čezmejne storitve. Standard podaja tudi smernice za postopke izplačila odškodnin in povrnitve škode.
Ta evropski standard se lahko uporablja za vse vrste poštnih storitev, tako za univerzalne kot tudi za neuniverzalne storitve, in v vseh vrstah poštnih organizacij. Določa različne vrste pritožb in vzpostavlja metodologijo za ravnanje s pritožbami z namenom izboljšanja storitev, ki se zagotavljajo uporabnikom pošte. Podaja tudi smernice za postopke ravnanja s pritožbami, ki jih morajo določiti ponudniki poštnih storitev z namenom izboljšanja kakovosti storitev.
Ta evropski standard podaja smernice, ki presegajo zahteve standardov ISO 10002 in lSO 9001, da bi bilo mogoče upoštevati tako uspešnost kot tudi učinkovitost postopka ravnanja s pritožbami in posledično možnosti za izboljšanje delovanja organizacije. V primerjavi s standardom lSO 9001 so cilji glede zadovoljstva strank in kakovosti proizvoda razširjeni tako, da vključujejo zadovoljstvo zainteresiranih strani ter delovanje organizacije.
Ta evropski standard se uporablja za procese organizacije, zato se lahko načela vodenja organizacije, na katerih je zasnovan, uporabijo v celotni organizaciji.
Opozoriti je treba, da število prejetih pritožb ni nujno povezano z ravnjo zagotovljene storitve. Veliko število pritožb lahko nasprotno odraža učinkovitost procesa ravnanja s pritožbami pri ponudniku poštnih storitev.
General Information
Relations
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST EN 14012:2019
01-december-2019
Nadomešča:
SIST EN 14012:2009
Poštne storitve - Kakovost storitve - Načela ravnanja s pritožbami
Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling principles
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Dienstqualität - Grundsätze der Bearbeitung von
Beschwerden
Services postaux - Qualité du service - Principes de traitement des réclamations
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 14012:2019
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
SIST EN 14012:2019 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
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SIST EN 14012:2019
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SIST EN 14012:2019
EN 14012
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
September 2019
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 03.240 Supersedes EN 14012:2008
English Version
Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling
principles
Services postaux - Qualité du service - Principes de Postalische Dienstleistungen - Dienstqualität -
traitement des réclamations Grundsätze der Bearbeitung von Beschwerden
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 5 August 2019.
CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this
European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by
translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and
United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2019 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 14012:2019 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
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EN 14012:2019 (E)
Contents Page
European foreword . 4
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Complaint handling - Guiding principles . 9
5 Complaint handling commitment . 11
6 Complaint handling management . 12
7 Operation of the complaints-handling process . 12
8 Maintenance and improvement. 15
Annex A (normative) Performance improvement activity . 16
A.1 General. 16
A.2 Assessing the organization is able to deal with the information of the complaint
handling process . 16
A.3 Assessing how the complaint handling process drives continual improvement . 17
Annex B (informative) Customer complaint processes – channels and mechanisms for
communicating complaint handling processes to postal users . 18
B.1 Communication content . 18
B.2 Communication channels . 18
B.3 Examples of alternative formats . 19
Annex C (informative) Complaint channels . 20
C.1 List of complaint channels involved . 20
C.2 Channel operation . 20
Annex D (informative) Capturing user information on complaints . 22
Annex E (informative) Complaint categorization and classification . 24
E.1 Introduction . 24
E.2 Complaint justification . 24
E.3 Complaint ownership . 24
E.4 Complaint categories . 25
E.5 Reasons for complaint. 25
E.6 Guidance on complaint categorization . 26
Annex F (informative) Responses . 28
F.1 Content of responses – suggested sequence . 28
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EN 14012:2019 (E)
F.2 Issues to be considered can include. 28
F.3 Timescales for responses . 28
Annex G (informative) Complaint reporting . 29
G.1 General . 29
G.2 Timescales for reporting. 29
G.3 Report content . 29
G.4 Extra monitoring data . 30
Annex H (informative) Continual improvement . 31
H.1 Continual improvement of the complaint handling process . 31
H.2 Continual improvement of products and services. 31
Annex I (informative) Suggested reporting formats . 32
Annex J (informative) Damage to postal items . 39
J.1 Introduction . 39
J.2 Measurement of complaints . 39
J.3 Prevention actions . 52
J.4 Measurements . 53
J.5 Activities to mitigate impact of damages . 55
J.6 Parameters of postal items affecting the number of damages . 56
Bibliography . 57
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SIST EN 14012:2019
EN 14012:2019 (E)
European foreword
This document (EN 14012:2019) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
services”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by March 2020, and conflicting national standards shall be
withdrawn at the latest by March 2020.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document supersedes EN 14012:2008.
The content has been extensively revised to reflect:
— an increased requirement for postal operators and organizations to demonstrate a stronger focus on
providing a quality mail and associated complaint handling experience to postal users;
— limiting the number of measuring parameters; and
— stronger alignment with ISO 10002 adhering to the measuring method described in the first edition
of EN 14012 means that also the measuring requirements of this revised 2nd edition of EN 14012
are met. Annex G contains general information regarding measuring and reporting of complaints
based on the criteria described in the first edition of EN 14012 and included in Annex I. However,
this revised second edition of EN 14012 contains more requirements on improvements and
corrective actions.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North
Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United
Kingdom.
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Introduction
General
In 1992 the European Commission pointed out in its Green paper the need to establish common rules for
the development of community postal services and the improvement of quality of service. The
Commission identified requirements for quality of service measurement including the management and
measurement of complaints.
The 1997 Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the development
of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, 97/67/CE
article 19, requires universal service providers to publish information once a year on the number of
complaints and the way they are dealt with. Complaints are requests given by users of the postal service
in order to communicate that they feel that the service provided has not met the standard they expect or
the standard the service provider has to comply with. It is recommended to investigate complaints in
order to verify if there is actual non-conformity with the service and to respond to the complainants.
Moreover, complaints are regarded as the instrument to protect users if the service provider does not
respect the commitments and promises it has made.
The service provider can use complaints in its continuous quality improvement of the postal service. The
level of complaints and the reasons for complaints provide important information about the satisfaction
of users with different aspects of the postal service. There needs to be commitment to effective
complaints-handling at all levels within the postal organization.
Development overview
An investigation carried out by the European postal regulators CERP in 2004 showed that the costs for
fully implementing the first edition of EN 14012:2003 were likely to be too high, even for postal service
organizations with existing established and sophisticated complaint management and measurement/
reporting systems. This prompted CEN/TC 331 to start a revision of the European Standard in 2005,
incorporating annexes about guidance for its use. This Third version of EN 14012 does not force those
who already are using EN 14012:2003 to change their measurement systems to comply with the
European Standard, but gives an opportunity to measure less extensively. This Third version is also
aligned with ISO 10002 on Complaints-handling and thus places more emphasis on the need for overall
quality improvements within the postal organizations.
Regulatory aspects, information about business sensitive information and special requirements for
Universal services have deliberately been left out of this European Standard. The reasons are that it is up
to the regulatory and governmental bodies, as well as in contracts between business partners, to refer to
business agreements and this European Standard, and to state which part has to be followed and for
which service.
National regulators may have more specific requirements than those given in this document.
Content description
This document provides guidelines beyond the requirements given in ISO 10002 and EN ISO 9001 in
order to consider both the effectiveness and efficiency of a complaint handling process, and consequently
the potential for improvement of the performance of an organization. When compared to EN ISO 9001,
the objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended to include the satisfaction of
interested parties and the performance of the organization.
In this third edition of EN 14012, the general structure of ISO 10002 is followed. For general complaints-
handling rules that are not postal specific, references are made to the latest version of ISO 10002, which
may be revised independently of EN 14012.
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The intention of the modified EN 14012 is to provide guidance on how to set up a complaints-handling
system for postal service operators. This leads to positive solutions for postal users who complain. It also
provides sufficient information about quality of service related to complaints.
Postal specific issues which will be taken into account are:
— many postal organization employees are in frequent contact with postal users during the delivery of
their core job and may be able to deal with complaints on the spot. Most of this contact is not
recognized as complaint handling contact and is therefore not formally recorded. (For example, a
postman conducting regular collection and delivery activity);
— cross border mail may generate cross border complaints where it may be difficult to establish which
postal operator is responsible;
— postal operations involving multiple operators carrying an item of mail will result in complaints
being made to organizations that may or may not be the responsibility of that organization;
— person who complains may not be the person who has paid for the service; for example, a recipient
of a mail item complaining about an incorrect delivery procedure;
— postal business in Europe is regulated by European and national regulatory law. This regulatory law
focuses primarily on the Universal Postal Service (which differs from Member State to Member
State);
— there is a new emphasis on e-commerce
— the Technical report on measuring and handling complaints concerning damaged, delayed or lost
postal items CEN/TR 16915:2015 is incorporated in this standard under Annex J.
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EN 14012:2019 (E)
1 Scope
This document specifies complaints-handling principles related to domestic and international postal
services. It applies to both national and cross border services. Attention is given to how to handle
complaints in multiple operator situations. The standard also gives guidance for compensation and
redress procedures.
This document can be applied to all types of postal service, both universal service and non-universal
service, and by all types of postal organizations. It defines various types of complaints and establishes a
methodology for handling complaints in order to improve the service given to postal users including
persons with disabilities and older persons. It also gives guidance for complaints-handling processes to
be set up by postal service providers in order to improve quality of service.
This document is applicable to the processes of the organization and consequently the quality
management principles on which it is based can be deployed throughout the organization. The focus of
this document is the achievement of ongoing improvement, measured through the satisfaction of
customers and other interested parties.
It is important to note that the number of complaints received might not be related to the level of service
given. A large number of complaints on the contrary could reflect the effectiveness of the postal operator's
complaint handling process.
This document consists of guidance and recommendations and is neither intended for certification,
regulatory or contractual use, nor as a guide to the implementation of EN ISO 9001.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 10002, Quality management — Customer satisfaction — Guidelines for complaints handling in
organizations
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
compensation
redress given to a complainant by a service provider
Note 1 to entry: Compensation rules are generally specified in the terms of business.
3.2
complainant
person, organization or its representative, making a complaint
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3.3
complaint
expression of dissatisfaction made to an organization, related to its products, services, or the complaints-
handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected
Note 1 to entry: Organizations can have a more detailed definition of what comprises a complaint in their
respective complaint handling approaches.
[SOURCE: EN 10002:2018]
3.4
complaints-handling process
process starting at the receipt of a complaint through a series of actions resulting in a final response or
any necessary escalation
3.5
cross-border mail
mail distributed from one country to another country
[SOURCE: EN 14534:2016]
3.6
customer
natural or legal person having a business relationship with a postal operator
Note 1 to entry: A consumer who purchases postal services is a customer.
3.7
customer service
interaction of the organization with the user throughout the life cycle of a product or service
3.8
feedback
opinions, comments and expressions of interest in the products or services or the complaints-handling
process
3.9
final response
communication by means of which the service provider informs a complainant of the results of any
investigation caused by a complaint, and whether the complaint is considered to be justified or not
Note 1 to entry: A continued dialogue between the service provider and an unsatisfied customer, after the
complainant has been informed about the results of the investigation in the final response, is considered a new
complaint about complaint handling.
Note 2 to entry: Even if the complainant is still not satisfied with the content of the final response, the specific
complaint is solved by the final response.
3.10
justified complaint
complaint regarding a subject for which the service provider, after investigation if necessary, recognizes
that it may not have fulfilled its obligations in whole or in part
Note 1 to entry: Examples of the obligations of the service provider are its descriptions of products and prices, its
general terms of business and its regulatory and legal requirements.
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3.11
multiple operators
carriage of mail that involves more than one operator from its introduction into the postal process to its
delivery
3.12
postal item
anything dispatched and/or to be delivered by a postal service provider
3.13
user
natural or legal person benefiting from postal services
Note 1 to entry: A sender or recipient of a postal item is a user.
Note 2 to entry: The concept of user is wider than customer.
Note 3 to entry: The concept of user includes persons with disabilities and older persons.
4 Complaint handling - Guiding principles
4.1 General
The overall reason to effectively manage, register and categorize complaints is to easily find information
about opportunities for improvement of the quality of products, services and processes. When choosing
activities for continual improvement, the organization should identify which causes of complaints that
are the most important to start to deal with.
The total volume of complaints and the reasons for those complaints should not be taken as the sole
measure of an organization’s performance. Many organizations positively generate complaints from
users, even in times of high service performance, to further drive service improvement. Comparing total
complaint volumes can be misleading. Complaint volumes should also be reviewed against other factors,
such as total volume of postal items.
Adherence to the guiding principles set out in 4.2 to 4.14 is recommended for delivering an effective
complaint handling process.
4.2 Visibility
Information about how and where to complain about postal services should be well publicized to postal
users.
4.3 Accessibility
A complaints-handling process should be easily accessible to all complainants and through a variety of
complaint access channels, so that no complainant would be disadvantaged. Information should be made
available on the details of making and resolving complaints. The complaints-handling process and
supporting information should be easy to access, understand and use by the widest range of users.
Wherever possible, accessibility to the complaints-handling process should be free of specific charge.
There shall be at least one free of specific charge access channel available to users who wish to contact
an organization to make a complaint.
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4.4 Acceptability
A complaint can be accepted from the sender or the addressee of a postal item or service.
Complaints related to the postal service provision can also be accepted from third parties, authorized to
act on behalf of senders or recipients.
General complaints made by third parties about things not related to specific postal items may also be
accepted, even if they will not be classified in the complaints-handling system. Examples of such
complaints are wrongly parked cars, noisy mail delivery personnel etc.
For cross-border and multiple operator handling see Clause 4.13.
4.5 Responsiveness
Where the complaint cannot be dealt with immediately, receipt of each complaint should be
acknowledged to the complainant. On request complainants should be kept informed of the status of their
complaint through the complaints-handling process, including when to expect the next step or the final
response to their complaint.
4.6 Objectivity
Each complaint should be dealt with in an equitable, objective and unbiased manner through the
complaints-handling process and according to the standard complaint handling procedures in place.
4.7 Confidentiality
Personally identifiable information concerning the complainant should be available where needed, but
only for the purposes of addressing the complaint within the organization, and should be actively
protected from disclosure to any other source (either internally or externally) unless the complainant
expressly consents or requests for specific details to be disclosed.
4.8 User focused approach
The first goal of complaint handling is the complainant's satisfaction and the recovering of confidence in
the postal service to engender long-term loyalty to the postal organization involved.
Postal organizations should take account of users’ needs and expectations when designing and deploying
complaint handling processes. Complaint handling systems should be open to user feedback, and should
show commitment to helping the postal organization to resolve the root causes of complaints and to avoid
them re-occurring.
4.9 Auditability
Postal organizations should have documented procedures regarding complaint handling. These
procedures should be auditable, as and when required.
4.10 Continual improvement
The continual improvement of the overall quality of service is the main objective of the complaint
handling system, and using the information from the complaint handling process to improve the overall
quality of service should be a permanent objective of any postal organization.
Complaint handling processes should allow analysis of complaint causes.
Postal organizations’ complaint handling systems should be flexible to allow modifications, in order to
take into account changing technology, dynamic market conditions and changing user needs and
expectations.
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4.11 Conformity with national and international framework
Organizational or national rules for complaints-handling may be more detailed than the procedures
outlined in this European Standard. Postal service organizations’ complaint handling processes should
be developed and deployed according to any existing national law.
4.12 Resolution of problem at local level
Responsibility for the reporting and resolution of the root cause of the complaint lies with the service-,
product- or process-owner in the organization responsible for the specific service failure or product
concerned.
Oral complaints that are solved ‘on the spot’ (outlet, distribution base or sorting centre) may not be
recorded.
4.13 Complaints on postal items handled by multiple operators (cross border or multi-
handled domestic mail)
The responsibility to handle a complaint is with the original operator, who is the contractor.
In the case of postal items being handled by multiple operators, any of the postal operators involved in
the supply chain should accept a complaint made by the user. Agreement on who is responsible should
be determined by procedures developed between multiple operators, but the responsibility for dealing
with the complainant until there is a resolution or transfer of the management of the complaint to the
right operator lies with the postal operator receiving the complaint.
If a postal operator receives a complaint where they have no part in the supply chain the complainant
should be informed about appropriate referral channels if possible. Complaints that obviously do not
refer to the postal operator that receives the complaint should not be accepted or counted in that
organization complaint data.
4.14 Compensation to users
Users are entitled to make claims for compensation if they perceive that the postal organizati
...
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
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01-november-2018
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Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling principles
Postalische Dienstleistungen - Dienstqualität - Grundsätze der Bearbeitung von
Beschwerden
Services postaux - Qualité du service - Principes de traitement des réclamations
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 14012
ICS:
03.240 Poštne storitve Postal services
oSIST prEN 14012:2018 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
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DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
prEN 14012
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
September 2018
ICS 03.240 Will supersede EN 14012:2008
English Version
Postal services - Quality of service - Complaints handling
principles
Services postaux - Qualité du service - Principes de Postalische Dienstleistungen - Dienstqualität -
traitement des réclamations Grundsätze der Bearbeitung von Beschwerden
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 331.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2018 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 14012:2018 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
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Contents Page
European foreword . 4
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Complaint handling - Guiding principles . 11
5 Complaint handling commitment . 14
6 Complaint handling management . 14
7 Operation of the complaints handling process. 14
8 Maintenance and improvement . 18
Annex A (normative) Performance improvement activity . 19
A.1 General. 19
A.2 Assessing the organization is able to deal with the information of the complaint handling
process . 19
A.3 Assessing how the complaint handling process drives continual improvement . 20
Annex B (informative) Customer complaint processes – channels and mechanisms for
communicating complaint handling processes to postal users . 21
Annex C (informative) Complaint channels . 22
C.1 List of complaint channels involved . 22
C.2 Channel operation . 22
Annex D (informative) Capturing user information on complaints . 24
Annex E (informative) Complaint categorization and classification . 26
E.1 Introduction . 26
E.2 Complaint justification . 26
E.3 Complaint ownership . 26
E.4 Complaint categories . 27
E.5 Reasons for complaint. 27
Annex F (informative) Responses . 28
Annex G (informative) Complaint reporting . 29
G.1 General. 29
G.2 Timescales for reporting . 29
G.3 Report content . 29
G.4 Extra monitoring data . 30
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Annex H (informative) Continual improvement . 31
H.1 Continual improvement of the complaint handling process . 31
H.2 Continual improvement of products and services. 31
Annex I (informative) (Informative) Suggested reportingformats . 32
Annex J (informative) Damage to postal items . 39
J.1 Introduction . 39
J.2 Measurement of complaints . 39
J.3 Prevention actions . 52
J.4 Measurements . 53
J.5 Activities to mitigate impact of damages . 56
J.6 Parameters of postal items affecting the number of damages . 56
Bibliography . 57
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European foreword
This document (prEN 14012:2018) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 331 “Postal
services”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document will supersede EN 14012:2003.
The content has been extensively revised to reflect:
— an increased requirement for postal operators and organizations to demonstrate a stronger focus on
providing a quality mail and associated complaint handling experience to postal users;
— limiting the number of measuring parameters; and
— stronger alignment with ISO 10002 adhering to the measuring method described in the first edition
of EN 14012 means that also the measuring requirements of this revised 2nd edition of EN 14012
are met. Annex F contains general information regarding measuring and reporting of complaints
based on the criteria described in the first edition of EN 14012 and included in Annex I. However,
this revised second edition of EN 14012 contains more requirements on improvements and
corrective actions.
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Introduction
In 1992 the European Commission pointed out in its Green paper the need to establish common rules for
the development of community postal services and the improvement of quality of service. The
Commission identified requirements for quality of service measurement including the management and
measurement of complaints.
The 1997 Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the development
of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, 97/67/CE
article 19, requires universal service providers to publish information once a year on the number of
complaints and the way they are dealt with. Complaints are requests given by users of the postal service
in order to communicate that they feel that the service provided has not met the standard they expect or
the standard the service provider has to comply with. It is recommended to investigate complaints in
order to verify if there is actual non-conformity with the service and to respond to the complainants.
Moreover, complaints should be regarded as the instrument to protect users if the service provider does
not respect the commitments and promises it has made.
The service provider can use complaints in its continuous quality improvement of the postal service. The
level of complaints and the reasons for complaints provide important information about the satisfaction
of users with different aspects of the postal service. There needs to be commitment to effective
complaints handling at all levels within the postal organization.
An investigation carried out by the European postal regulators CERP in 2004 showed that the costs for
fully implementing the first edition of EN 14012:2003 were likely to be too high, even for postal service
organizations with existing established and sophisticated complaint management & measurement/
reporting systems. This prompted CEN/TC 331 to start a revision of the European Standard in 2005,
incorporating annexes about guidance for its use. This Third version of EN 14012 does not force those
who already are using EN 14012:2003 to change their measurement systems to comply with the
European Standard, but gives an opportunity to measure less extensively. This Third version is also
aligned with ISO 10002 on Complaints handling and thus places more emphasis on the need for overall
quality improvements within the postal organizations.
Regulatory aspects, information about business sensitive information and special requirements for
Universal services have deliberately been left out of this European Standard. The reasons are that it is up
to the regulatory and governmental bodies, as well as in contracts between business partners, to refer to
business agreements and this European Standard, and to state which part has to be followed and for
which service.
National regulators may have more specific requirements than those given in this European Standard.
In this third edition of EN 14012, the general structure of ISO 10002 is followed. For general complaints
handling rules that are not postal specific, references are made to the latest version of ISO 10002/2, which
may be revised independently of EN 14012.
Green paper parcel delivery 2012, directive 2011/83/EU Consumer Rights
Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services, 2018
The intention of the modified EN 14012 is to provide guidance on how to set up a complaints handling
system for postal service operators that can deliver positive solutions for postal users who complain and
provide sufficient information about quality of service related to complaints.
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Postal specific issues which will be taken into account are:
— many postal organization employees are in frequent contact with postal users during the delivery of
their core job and may be able to deal with complaints on the spot. Most of this contact is not
recognized as complaint handling contact and is therefore not formally recorded. (For example, a
postman conducting regular collection and delivery activity);
— cross border mail may generate cross border complaints where it may be difficult to establish which
postal operator is responsible;
— postal operations involving multiple operators carrying an item of mail will result in complaints
being made to organizations that may or may not be the responsibility of that organization;
— person who complains may not be the person who has paid for the service; for example, a recipient
of a mail item complaining about an incorrect delivery procedure;
— postal business in Europe is regulated by European and national regulatory law. This regulatory law
focuses primarily on the Universal Postal Service (which differs from Member State to Member
State);
— there is a new emphasis on e-commerce.
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1 Scope
This document specifies complaints handling principles related to domestic and international postal
services. It applies to both national and cross border services. Attention is given to how to handle
complaints in multiple operator situations. The standard also gives guidance for compensation and
redress procedures.
This document can be applied to all types of postal service, both universal service and non-universal
service, and by all types of postal organizations. It defines various types of complaints and establishes a
methodology for handling complaints in order to improve the service given to postal users. It also gives
guidance for complaints handling processes to be set up by postal service providers in order to improve
quality of service.
This document provides guidelines beyond the requirements given in ISO 10002 and EN ISO 9001 in
order to consider both the effectiveness and efficiency of a complaint handling process, and consequently
the potential for improvement of the performance of an organization. When compared to EN ISO 9001,
the objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended to include the satisfaction of
interested parties and the performance of the organization.
This document is applicable to the processes of the organization and consequently the quality
management principles on which it is based can be deployed throughout the organization. The focus of
this document is the achievement of ongoing improvement, measured through the satisfaction of
customers and other interested parties.
It is important to note that the number of complaints received might not be related to the level of service
given. A large number of complaints may on the contrary reflect the effectiveness of the postal operator's
complaint handling process.
This document consists of guidance and recommendations and is neither intended for certification,
regulatory or contractual use, nor as a guide to the implementation of EN ISO 9001.
The relationship with the second edition of this document is explained in Annex I.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 10002, Quality management - Customer satisfaction - Guidelines for complaints handling in
organizations
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
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3.1
"access to customer service information" complaint
complaint about the information provided by the service provider on the specifications of its products
and services
Note 1 to entry: Examples would be complaints about availability of information on product specifications and
prices, about incorrect information and advice, or about information on complaints procedures.
Note 2 to entry: Complaints about information provided by a contractor or franchisee of the service provider would
be included in this category.
3.2
"access to postal services" complaint
complaint about how and when postal services are available
Note 1 to entry: Examples would be complaints about opening hours at post offices, about queues at post offices,
about cleanliness of post offices, or about access for disabled and handicapped people.
Note 2 to entry: Complaints about access points for postal services provided by the service provider through
franchised operations are also included in the access to postal services category of complaints.
3.3
"behaviour and competence of postal employees" complaint
complaint regarding the behaviour of individual postal employees and the way individual employees
operate postal procedures
Note 1 to entry: Examples would be complaints about rudeness or behaviour of employees which is inconsiderate
of users of the postal service.
Note 2 to entry: Complaints about mistakes resulting in loss of, damage to or delay to postal items or causing
delivery problems is not included in this complaints category.
3.4
cause of complaint
originating event leading to a complaint
Note 1 to entry: E.g. specific explanation for a service failure or customer perception of failure, generating a
complaint.
3.5
compensation
redress given to a complainant by a service provider
Note 1 to entry: Compensation rules are generally specified in the terms of business.
3.6
complainant
person, organization or its representative, making a complaint
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3.7
complaint
expression of dissatisfaction made to an organization, related to the perceived failure of its products,
services or policies, or the complaints-handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly
or implicitly expected
Note 1 to entry: Organizations may have a more detailed definition of what comprises a complaint in their
respective complaint handling approaches.
3.8
complaints handling process
process starting at the receipt of a complaint through a series of actions resulting in a final response or
any necessary escalation
3.9
"complaint handling" complaint
complaint expressing dissatisfaction about the way in which a previous complaint has been treated
Note 1 to entry: Reasons for dissatisfaction could include the time taken to handle the complaint or the response
received from the service provider.
3.10
cross-border mail
mail distributed from one country to another country
[SOURCE: EN 14534:2016]
3.11
customer
natural or legal person having a business relationship with a postal operator
Note 1 to entry: A consumer who purchases postal services is a customer.
Cf. user
3.12
customer service
interaction of the organization with the user throughout the life cycle of a product or service
3.13
feedback
opinions, comments and expressions of interest in the products or services or the complaints handling
process
3.14
final response
communication by means of which the service provider informs a complainant of the results of any
investigation caused by a complaint, and whether the complaint is considered to be justified or not
Note 1 to entry: A continued dialogue between the service provider and an unsatisfied customer, after the
complainant has been informed about the results of the investigation in the final response, is considered a new
complaint about complaint handling.
Note 2 to entry: Even if the complainant is still not satisfied with the content of the final response, the specific
complaint is solved by the final response.
cf. complaint handling complaint
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3.15
general complaint
complaint that is based on a question of opinion or dissatisfaction in general with the service the postal
operator provides without reference to a perceived specific service or product failure
Note 1 to entry: General Complaints are neither related to a specific item or items nor to a specific customer or
postal service user.
Note 2 to entry: The process for handling general complaints may differ from the process for specific complaints.
cf. specific complaint
3.16
item damaged complaint
complaint regarding damage to the contents or envelope or wrapping of a postal item
3.17
inappropriate delivery(for categorization of complaints):
the delivery of postal items , without the consent of the receiver or the sender, for instance
at a place that is:
• deemed not secure/ public accessible;
• not protected from weather;
or the delivery of Postal items without notifying the consumer where the item was delivered
3.18
"item lost or substantially delayed" complaint
complaint regarding a postal item not received, in whole or in part, by the recipient within a specified
period of time
Note 1 to entry: Each postal operator may define a specific ‘loss’ time depending on the product or service used.
3.19
justified complaint
complaint regarding a subject for which the service provider, after investigation if necessary, recognizes
that it may not have fulfilled its obligations in whole or in part
Note 1 to entry: Examples of the obligations of the service provider are its general terms of business and its
regulatory and legal requirements.
3.20
"mail delivery" complaint
complaint about when, where or how postal items have been delivered at the delivery address
3.21
"misdelivery" complaint
complaint about postal item delivered to the wrong address or the wrong addressee (if appropriate)
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3.22
multiple operator(s)
carriage of mail that involves more than one operator from its introduction into the postal process to its
delivery
3.23
postal item
anything dispatched and/or to be delivered by a postal service provider
3.24
"redirection" complaint
complaint about incorrect treatment of postal items that are affected by a permanent or temporary
change of address
Note 1 to entry: An example of what would warrant a change of address complaint would be failure to redirect
letters to a person’s new address when the service provider has undertaken to do so.
Note 2 to entry: Complaints about temporary changes of address, for example during the summer vacation.
3.25
specific complaint
complaint based on a question of fact related to a specific customer or postal service user, and a specific
instance or a specific postal item or items
Note 1 to entry: cf. general complaint.
3.26
user
any natural or legal person benefiting from postal services
Note 1 to entry: A sender or recipient of a postal item is a user.
Note 2 to entry: The concept of user is wider than customer.
Note 1 to entry: cf. customer.
4 Complaint handling - Guiding principles
4.1 General
The overall reason to effectively manage, register and categorize complaints is to easily find information
about opportunities for improvement of the quality of products, services and processes. When choosing
activities for continual improvement, the organization should identify which causes of complaints that
are the most important to start to deal with.
The total volume of complaints and the reasons for those complaints should not be taken as the sole
measure of an organization’s performance. Many organizations positively generate complaints from
users, even in times of high service performance, to further drive service improvement. Comparing total
complaint volumes can be misleading. Complaint volumes should also be reviewed against other factors,
such as total volume of postal items.
Adherence to the guiding principles set out in 4.2 to 4.14 is recommended for delivering an effective
complaint handling process.
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4.2 Visibility
Information about how and where to complain about postal services should be well publicized to postal
users.
4.3 Accessibility
A complaints handling process should be easily accessible to all complainants and through a variety of
complaint access channels, so that no complainant would be disadvantaged. Information should be made
available on the details of making and resolving complaints. The complaints handling process and
supporting information should be easy to understand and use.
Wherever possible, accessibility to the complaints handling process should be free of specific charge.
There shall be at least one free of specific charge access channel available to users who wish to contact
an organization to make a complaint.
4.4 Acceptability
A complaint can be accepted from the sender or the addressee of a postal item or service.
Complaints related to the postal service provision can also be accepted from third parties, authorized to
act on behalf of senders or recipients.
General complaints made by third parties about things not related to specific postal items may also be
accepted, even if they will not be classified in the complaints handling system. Examples of such
complaints are wrongly parked cars, noisy mail delivery personnel etc.
For cross-border and multiple operator handling see clause 4.13.
4.5 Responsiveness
Where the complaint cannot be dealt with immediately, receipt of each complaint should be
acknowledged to the complainant. On request complainants should be kept informed of the status of their
complaint through the complaints handling process, including when to expect the next step or the final
response to their complaint.
4.6 Objectivity
Each complaint should be dealt with in an equitable, objective and unbiased manner through the
complaints handling process and according to the standard complaint handling procedures in place.
4.7 Confidentiality
Personally identifiable information concerning the complainant should be available where needed, but
only for the purposes of addressing the complaint within the organization, and should be actively
protected from disclosure to any other source (either internally or externally) unless the complainant
expressly consents or requests for specific details to be disclosed.
4.8 User focused approach
The first goal of complaint handling is
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