This International Standard specifies a glow discharge optical emission spectrometric method for the determination of the thickness, mass per unit area and chemical composition of metallic surface coatings consisting of zinc- and/or aluminium-based materials. The alloying elements considered are nickel, iron, silicon, lead and antimony. This method is applicable to zinc contents between 0,01 mass % and 100 mass %; aluminium contents between 0,01 mass % and 100 mass %; nickel contents between 0,01 mass % and 20 mass %; iron contents between 0,01 mass % and 20 mass %; silicon contents between 0,01 mass % and 10 mass %; lead contents between 0,005 mass % and 2 mass %; antimony contents between 0,005 mass % and 2 mass %.