This document specifies field procedures to be adopted when determining and evaluating the precision (repeatability) of rotating lasers and their ancillary equipment when used in building and surveying measurements for levelling tasks. Primarily, these tests are intended to be field verifications of the suitability of a particular instrument for the immediate task at hand and to satisfy the requirements of other standards. They are not proposed as tests for acceptance or performance evaluations that are more comprehensive in nature.

This document can be considered as one of the first steps in the process of evaluating the uncertainty of a measurement (more specifically a measurand). The uncertainty of a result of a measurement is dependent on a number of parameters. Therefore this document differentiates between different measures of accuracy and objectives in testing, like repeatability and reproducibility (between-day repeatability), and of course gives a thorough assessment of all possible error sources, as prescribed by ISO/IEC Guide 98‑3 and ISO 17123‑1.

These field procedures have been developed specifically for in situ applications without the need for special ancillary equipment and are purposefully designed to minimize atmospheric influences.