scope:

This European Standard specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit time of the domestic and cross-border, priority and non-priority, bulk mail, collected, processed and distributed by postal service operators. It considers methods using a representative end-to-end sample of addressed bulk mail. End-to-end is defined as from the point mail is placed into the collection/acceptance system under the responsibility of the postal operators, to the final delivery point under the responsibility of the postal operators. For the purpose of this European Standard, bulk mail can include all types of addressed bulk mail: letter mail, direct mail, magazines, and newspapers, unless otherwise indicated. The overall quality of service result should be expressed as the percentage of mail delivered within J + n days end-to- end according to the EC postal directive or the percentage of mail delivered by, on or between expected dates. The measurement should be in whole days and not be restricted by reference to a specific time of day for delivery. This quality of service indicator does not measure the postal operator's overall performance in a way which provides direct comparison of postal service operators, and does not include other service performance indicators than those related to transit time. In particular this European Standard does not measure whether the timing of collections meets customers' requirements. The European Standard can be used to assess the performance of postal operators for specific products or services at a national level or for an individual or a group of customers. The European Standard should not be used to assess the overall performance of a group of products or services which have other service specifications in terms of transit time expectation. It specifies a set of requirements for the design of a quality of service measurement system for bulk mail, involving the selection and distribution of test mail sent and received by selected panellists. The test mail sample design gives the specifications for the mail to be representative of real mail flows. This European Standard relates to the measurement of services offered to businesses that have pick ups at their offices or give their mail to postal service operators. If a third party agent acts for the postal operator then the time the mail is handed over to the agent should form part of the measurement. Where a third party agent acts for the sending customer then the measurement should be from the point when mail is handed over to the postal operator. For technical reasons the European Standard may not in all parts be suitable for the measuring of very small volumes of mail and for operators with limited coverage. It is not applicable for measuring the end-to-end transit time distribution of single piece mailings which require different measurement systems. The European Standard EN 13850 has been developed for single piece priority mail and EN 14508 for single piece non-priority mail. This European standard includes specifications for the quality control and auditing of the measurement system. In certain circumstances this European Standard allows a choice between alternatives or deviations to be made subject to the approval of the regulator. This approval is only necessary if the product or service is within the universal service obligation.