RE : Securedoc project - Additional information

[Solena -dot- LEMOIGNE -at- fr -dot- thalesgroup -dot- com]

Listmembers,

Quoting Mr Dan Goldstein
"Much of the guideline is devoted to product safety and liability for
damages. It briefly discusses technical communication methods, but only in a
generalized and introductory manner. A legislative version would probably be
as inoffensive and harmless as the guideline itself."

True enough. In Europe there is no culture of "I've put my hand on the
chainsaw, and look, all my fingers are gone! You should've told me not to
put my hand on the chainsaw. I'll sue you." Most judges consider that people
have shown a lack of common sense and that's it. However, we see an increase
in cases that could compete for the Stella awards. Therefore, the first
application of this guideline is to make small companies aware of what could
happen to them if something goes wrong, and make sure they protect
themselves against misuses that could cost the company its existence.

Money-wise, the technical communication aspect is of little relevance, for
the time being.

Documentation of consumer goods is a work that started in the EU on the 5th
of April 1993 with a set of future resolutions on the labelling of consumer
goods [JO C 110 du 20.4.1993, p.1 - Official Journal of the EU number 110
dated 20.4.1993, page 1]. These future resolutions were updated and put
together in the resolution [JO C 411/01 31.12.1998] which lists the various
reasons for the existence of the resolution and declares a number of
informations that are compulsory on a product label. A Resolution taken at
EU level is bound to be applied as a law in all its member states within a
limited time frame. Which means that if we travel across Europe, we'll find
the same information on every label. 
The seventh reason for the resolution says (my own rough translation)
"Considering that there is no community legislation dealing with the
specific aspects of consumer goods' user manuals.", which is precisely the
point that is beginning to be addressed in the guideline. 

We may have to wait a five extra years before there is something more fleshy
to help small and medium-sized companies to produce a decent documentation.
But it's a start. Once fully implemented it'll affect mainly the work of
free-lancers who deal with a group of small companies.

Hope this helps, and is constructive.

Solena Le Moigne
Rédactrice Technique
solena.lemoigne[at]fr.thalesgroup.com
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