The International Antimicrobial Council (IAC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the safe and effective use of antimicrobials and odor-controlling technologies within industries where microbial contamination is of concern. To further this effort IAC provides education to users of these technologies, participates in the development of test methods and standards, certifies test laboratories, textile mills and odor-control technologies. The IAC establishes verification programs for the use of antimicrobials and odor-controlling technologies to protect the public from any potential misuse and manages quality assurance programs for retailers and brand name companies to assure consistent, reproducible performance from treated products. The IAC uses standard test methods but also customizes existing methods to meet the needs of its members so that the testing correlates to the use and abuse conditions that their treated products will be exposed to in the real world. The objective of this work is to help members develop customized test methods to quickly, accurately and reproducibly measure the performance of antimicrobials on treated articles. IAC representatives also work closely with its members and various standards organizations to refine and improve existing test standards and promote the adoption of newly developed test methods to help meet this objective.