By using highly sens­it­ive labor­at­ory ana­lys­is tech­niques, such as gas chro­ma­to­graphy and mass spec­tro­metry, and by fol­low­ing stand­ard­ized test pro­ced­ures, even the smal­lest traces of volat­ile organ­ic com­pounds (VOCs) in the air can be iden­ti­fied and quan­ti­fied. For this pur­pose, samples of the mater­i­als are placed into test cham­bers made of stain­less steel with a volume of 100 to 1000 liters. In these test cham­bers, typ­ic­al indoor cli­mates are sim­u­lated. The cham­ber is con­tinu­ously flushed with clean air to ensure that the air inside is com­pletely exchanged every 2 hours. The tem­per­at­ure is 23 °C; rel­at­ive humid­ity of the incom­ing air is 50 %. Meas­ure­ments are taken after 3 days and 28 days by sampling and ana­lyz­ing the exhaust air from the test cham­ber.

The test can be ter­min­ated when all clas­si­fic­a­tion val­ues are com­plied with, but not before 10 days. The meas­ure­ments are per­formed to detect and record con­cen­tra­tions of volat­ile organ­ic com­pounds (VOCs), car­ci­no­gen­ic as well as semi-volat­ile organ­ic com­pounds (SVOCs). The test meth­od is con­stantly reviewed and adjus­ted to reflect the state of the art. It is used for ini­tial test­ing when a license applic­a­tion is received and as an eval­u­ation basis for each sub­sequent qual­ity check. Only labor­at­or­ies accred­ited in accord­ance with ISO 17025 can be com­mis­sioned to per­form the tests.