The decision to set up a Committee on Skin Test Standardization was taken in 1985 at the spring meeting of the Netherlands Society of Allergology. The committee's terms of reference were to make recommendations about: (i) the standardization of skin-test techniques; (ii) ensuring the quality of skin-test techniques; (iii) determining whether tests should be carried out using serial dilutions and, if so, under what conditions; (iv) the adaptation of standard series or the use of minimum numbers of allergen extracts with adults and children. This committee cannot be viewed separately from the previously established Committee on the Standardization of Allergen Extracts. The availability of allergen extracts that are as highly standardized as possible is an essential condition for good skin-test diagnostics.