EN 14534:2003

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 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 meet 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.