AbstractThe paper formulates a complex model of climatic stress, which influences packages during transport and/or storage in natural climatic conditions. As all methods of prediction of material deterioration under real operating conditions are necessarily based on model test results, the proposed laboratory model works both with dominant sensitivities (or features) of the protected product and the main climatic hazards that may cause damage during distribution. The model is solved as a set of rules, which determine—within the pre‐defined limits—the laboratory multitest schedule for each specific case.The philosophy of the test is based on a well‐known idea that transformation of the real stress into a model stress makes it possible, for any real time, place and conditions, to deduce an equivalent model stress. The direct relation between test schedule and real climatic conditions is provided by selecting such test parameters (temperature, both relative and absolute humidity, UV radiation, additional mechanical stress) as those that arise from the real climatic characteristics.Values of the probable maximum climatic hazards during transport and/or storage were determined on the basis of an analysis of the daily, monthly and yearly meteorological data f rom more than 500 stations in Europe and Asia. The results were combined with those of monitoring parameters of transport container microclimates during land and sea transport.From the viewpoint of economic pressure relating to the development of modern protective systems, the test helps to meet the rising demand for package reliability while decreasing their productio