What is BS EN 13850 about?
BS EN 13850 discusses the quality of postal services. BS EN 13850 specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit time of domestic and cross-border Single Piece Priority Mail (SPPM), collected, processed, and delivered by postal service operators. BS EN 13850 considers methods using representative end-to-end samples for all types of single-piece priority mail services for addressed mail with defined transit-time service levels offered to the customer. BS EN 13850 applies to the measurement of End-to-End priority mail services.
BS EN 13850 relates to the measurement of the SPPM services given to household and business customers that post mail at street letterboxes, over the counter at post offices or have pick-ups at their offices. To cover flows with smaller mail volumes BS EN 13850 includes flexibility areas for adapted implementation. For technical reasons, BS EN 13850 may not be suitable for the measurement of very small volumes of mail.
Note 1: BS EN 13850 does not specify the minimum acceptable level of accuracy that will be required by the national regulatory authority
Note 2: BS EN 13850 does not specify the target(s) that the regulatory authority might set
Note 3: BS EN 13850 does not specify how the regulatory authority should determine whether the target(s) have been met.
Note4: BS EN 13850 is not applicable for the measurement of end-to-end transit times of bulk mailers’ services and hybrid mail, which requires different measurement systems and methodologies
Who is BS EN 13850 for?
BS EN 13850 on postal services with measurement of transmit time is useful for:
- Post office employees
- Postal operators
- Regulatory authorities
Why should you use BS EN 13850?
The European Commission emphasises the need to have common rules for the development of community postal services and the improvement of Quality-of-Service (QoS). The Commission has identified requirements for postal QoS-Measurement systems that include:
- Independent end-to-end measurement capabilities
- A focus on national and cross-border distribution service performance
- A single, uniform and reliable system for monitoring distribution service performance within the Union
The Commission has acknowledged that the different postal traditions and cultures in Europe would not allow for the establishment of one common unified European measurement system and that national systems should have sufficient freedom to reflect national needs and peculiarities. On the other hand, they should fulfil a defined set of minimum requirements to satisfy the information interests of the European Commission, the regulatory authority, postal customers and postal operators themselves.
The objective of the measurement is to estimate the end-to-end transit time QoS has given to the customer domestically. BS EN 13850 refers to several principles and minimum requirements to be applied for the measurement of the end-to-end transit time service level. BS EN 13850 also specifies a set of requirements for the design of a QoS measuring system for SPPM, involving the selection and distribution of test items sent and received by selected panellists. The measurement methods described in BS EN 13850 help you to identify the quality of service provided by various postal services by calculating the end-to-end transit time.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN 13850:2020 supersedes BS EN 13850:2012. BS EN 13850:2020 includes some technical changes concerning BS EN 13850:2012. These include:
- Definitions have been aligned with other ISO standards
- The definition of panellist has been added
- The maximum number of test letters per week per panellist has been explained in more detail in chapter 6.2.1
- “Zone” has been changed to “area”
- The independence of the auditor to the measurement has been further highlighted in chapter 8
