This International Standard applies to the family of fibre optic filters. These components have all of the following general features: ?C they are passive for the reason that they contain no optoelectronic or other transducing elements which can process the optical signal launched into the input port; ?C they modify the spectral intensity distribution in order to select some wavelengths and inhibit others; ?C they are fixed@ i.e. the modification of the spectral intensity distribution is fixed and cannot be tuned; ?C they have input and output ports or a common port (having both functions of input and output) for the transmission of optical power; the ports are optical fibre or optical fibre connectors; ?C they differ according to their characteristics. They can be divided into the following categories: short-wave pass (only wavelengths lower than or equal to a specified value are passed); long-wave pass (only wavelengths greater than or equal to a specified value are passed); band-pass (only an optical window is allowed); notch (only an optical window is inhibited). It is also possible to have a combination of the above categories. This standard establishes uniform requirements for the following: ?C optical@ mechanical and environmental properties.