This International Standard gives directives for sampling shaped refractory products and for obtaining, from a sample of the smallest possible size, the most precise assessment possible, of the quality of a consignment. The methods described below make it possible to carry out an acceptance test based on an assessment of the extent to which the specifications have been observed, but do not make it possible to determine whether the accepted consignment is suitable for a given application or to compare different qualities of parts for this same purpose. This International Standard applies to products manufactured from refractory materials. It may be applied when the parties concerned have agreed to do so and have therefore, by common consent, made a choice between the various possibilities put forward in this International Standard, and have specified the various parameters (see 3.2) which must be defined in order to permit the application of the methods described. It is also possible to apply the directives forming the subject of this International Standard while modifying, by prior agreement between the parties concerned, those values which, particularly in the tables, do not follow from statistical laws (see 3.3).