ISO/TR 79:2015 summarizes the state of the art of the production and certification or characterization of qualitative property reference materials (RMs).

The need for guidance documents for the production of RMs certified for qualitative properties was recognized by many experts. At the same time, the available information was found to be too immature to develop an internationally accepted guidance document. Additionally, the lack of an international vocabulary for terms and definitions for qualitative properties made it more difficult for the experts from various testing areas to communicate with each other.

ISO/TR 79 summarizes the available expertise. It aims to contribute to the on-going discussion on nominal properties and the production of such RMs. The investigation of nominal properties is referred to differently in various specialized areas (examination, classification, identification, testing, observation, etc.). ISO/TR 79 tries to foster the future development of an internationally harmonized guidance document.