This European Standard establishes the general principles for determining the fire resistance of various elements of construction when subjected to standard fire exposure conditions. Alternative and additional procedures to meet special requirements are given in EN 1363-2. The principle that has been embodied within all European Standards relating to fire resistance testing is that where aspects and procedures of testing are common to all specific test methods e. g. the temperature/time curve, then they are specified in this test method. Where a general principle is common to many specific test methods but the details vary according to the element being tested (e. g. the measurement of unexposed face temperature), then the principle is given in this document, but the details are given in the specific test method. Where certain aspects of testing are unique to a particular specific test method (e. g. the air leakage test for fire dampers), then no details are included in this document.