The vast majority of composite components experience multi-axial loading during service life and in use, these materials are often combined in a multi-directional laminate. Existing composite material test standards for generating mechanical design data are predominantly uni-axial in scope, and although several laboratories are proposing standard methods for multi-axial characterisation, there is currently no standard protocol in place. A world-wide exercise to compare different failure theories for multi-axially loaded polymer composites has already been undertaken [1-12] and it is particularly important that the experimental data used for these inter-comparisons are robust and can be achieved by all using best practice.The work detailed in this Measurement Note has been undertaken in support of developing a test method for the biaxial response of a planar cruciform specimen manufactured from fibre reinforced plastic laminates subject to tension-tension loading.