The Berlin International Design Center, certification institution TUV Nord and the German Design Council have developed a quality label for universal design (sorry, page in German only...). Companies can apply for the certicate, their products will be tested by engineers, test participants, and experts. If the product passes the test it can feature the certificate 'Ausgezeichnet! Industrial Design' on their product. According to the three project partners:

Products that match the criteria of universal design (self-explaining, easy to handle, universally applicable, usable across generations) and the technical criteria (safety, material properties, forces and norms) can be certified by us.

The introduction of the new certificate will be accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign.
Such a quality label is a good idea if you ask me. When you are considering a product, there are all kinds of visible product properties, such as the aesthetics, feature sets, brand, and performance (battery time, etc), but the more intangible aspects, such as production quality, sustainability and usability are nearly impossible to assess. Only by trying out the product, asking people about their experiences, and by knowing about the user test results (which this new seal enables) can the 'consumer' know whether the 'user' will end up with a usable product or not.

Thnx to material Aart for the tip.