This International Standard establishes the general principles and procedures to be followed when machining and notching test specimens from compression-moulded and injection-moulded plastics, extruded sheets, plates and partially finished or wholly finished products. In order to establish a basis for reproducible machining and notching conditions, the following general standardized conditions should be applied. It is assumed, however, that the exact procedures to be used will be selected or specified by the relevant material specification or by the standards on the particular test methods. If sufficiently detailed procedures are not thus specified, it is essential that the interested parties agree on the conditions to be used.