SCHIAVO, Luca Lo <br/><br/>
Quality standards in the public sector :  differences between Italy and the UK in the citizen`s charter initiative 

 -  R.A.W. Rhodes,  2000 
<br/><br/> Service quality of public services is a major aim of the New Public Management reforms occurring throughout Europe. The Citizen`s Charter initiative, launced by the UK Prime Minister John Major in 1991, has been an example followed in some European countries, including Italy (Cart dei servizi). This paper analyses and evaluates the cultural differences in the usage of the concept of service quality standards between the UK experience and the Italian one, referring particularly  to two kinds of public services, very different one from the other: healthcare and electricity supply. The comparative policy analysis leadsto a sketch of two different profiles in the usage of quality standards  in the public sector: a cammon law profile, where quality standards are not legal rights but targets to be achieved and improved; and a public law profile, where quality standards tend to be overlapped and confused with legal rights of users. Under the latter framework, standards are likely to be sidestepped because they are perceived more as a problem than as an opportunity to change