The procedure described in this European Standard is based on the standard settling technique as defined by Utermöhl in 1958 [31]. It describes a general procedure for the estimation of abundance and taxonomic composition of marine and freshwater phytoplankton by using inverted light microscopy and sedimentation chambers, including the preceding steps of preservation and storage. Emphasis is placed on optimizing the procedure for the preparation of the microscopic sample. Many of the general principles of the approach described may also be applied to other techniques of enumerating algae (or other entities) using a (conventional) microscope, some of which a