This document specifies the physical, technical and metrological conditions to be fulfilled when calibrations of vacuum gauges are performed by direct comparison with a reference gauge at a calibration laboratory, whether accredited or not. From the conditions described, the design of an apparatus that can perform vacuum gauge calibrations in an adequate manner can be deduced.

This document is applicable for calibration of all types of vacuum gauges. Vacuum gauges can consist of several parts; typically, these are: gauge head, cable, and control unit. This entire set is considered as the unit to be calibrated. If only the gauge head (i.e. the part of the vacuum gauge directly exposed to the vacuum) is calibrated, all set-ups and conditions are recorded such that the user of the calibrated gauge head is able to perform the measurements in the same manner as during the calibration.

This document does not give guidance on how to treat special types of vacuum gauges, be they reference standards or units under calibration.

The applicable pressure range for calibrations treated in this document depends on the realized design of the calibration apparatus and on the type of reference gauge, and the range varies in its limits from 10−6 Pa to 133 kPa.