As part of the health protection of employees, occupational exposure limits are set for hazardous substances, which must be complied with by the operators of plants and companies. These regulations can be achieved by a near-source capture of the emissions and a separation of the hazardous substances by industrial vacuum cleaners and dust extractors that are equipped with filter elements made of highly efficient filter materials. These materials must be tested regarding their penetration rate in accordance with IEC 60335-2-69 annex AA. The test method described within this standard uses a photometer or a suitable measuring system to determine the concentrations used to evaluate the separation efficiency. The traceability of a photometer within the scope of accreditation is difficult to implement. For this reason, a test stand using a gravimetric measuring method was established at the Institut für Luft- und Kältetechnik in Dresden. Investigations into the limit of quantification have shown, that this measuring method is sensitive enough to reliably determine the dust classes “L” and “M”. Difficulties, limitations and new developments concerning the essential filter material test will be discussed.