After a check test, what result is issued?

AWTA Ltd is licensed by the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) to issue IWTO Certificates. This requires strict adherence to IWTO Specifications (test methods) and IWTO Regulations. Each Specification has an accompanying set of Regulations which deal with the handling of Check Tests and Retests.

The Regulations associated with each Specification or test method establish procedures to be followed when a test result is queried or suspected to be in error. A Check Test may involve conducting an additional set of measurements on any residual sample material, or if this is not available a new sample may be obtained. The Regulations define a maximum difference between the the values of these additional measurements and the original measurements, which, if exceeded, is deemed to indicate an error may have occurred.

If the difference between a Check Test and an original test is less than a value in the relevant IWTO Specification, all results are combined and the average of both results issued as a new Certificate.

If this difference is greater, then the Check Test result is used to issue a new Certificate.

An important implication of this procedure is that if a Check Test is requested, it is highly probable that the results on the new Certificate will be slightly different from the results on the original Certificate. If in fact no error has occurred, then the new results may be slightly higher than the original results or slightly lower. This has important implications for wool growers who request Check Tests in the hope that a more favourable "commercial" result will be obtained. In such cases there is a 50% chance that a less commercially favourable result will be obtained.