stephankn, yes, that’s right.

If you look at OSM Wiki, you can see the note about it: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dservice

Basically, for navigation purposes, there should always be a way from one higher-level to another higher-level road that will not make you go through service one. If it is the only way, then this road isn’t “service” one, it’s a higher class road.