You are confusing two seperate things. The ESA thing, and the standards based thing, is a communication failure, where SpaceX failed to promptly reply to an em

You are confusing two seperate things. The ESA thing, and the standards based thing, is a communication failure, where SpaceX failed to promptly reply to an email by accident. The reflectivity based thing is something without standards more stringent than what SpaceX was already complying with, which they voluntarily chose to improve to be a good citizen, and in which they are going above and beyond the existing standards.