From own experience, working in Norway.. if I told a pilot to climb to FL270, I would assume the pilot would climb by own discretion.
I could also add "..with no restrictions", if I knew that the usual procedure was blablabla XYZ 9000ft and so on.
If I want the pilot to comply with "earlier instructions", I would tell him to "when passing XYZ, continue climb to FL270",
Anyway.. the best way to solve it is for the pilot to ask if he/she should still comply with earlier instructions.