Glossary
Acceptance criteria
The numerical limits, ranges or other measures a test result must meet for the material to conform: "not less than", "not more than", a range, or a defined qualitative outcome, as set by the governing specification.
Why it matters on a certificate
Acceptance criteria are where certificates are most quietly wrong. A limit printed looser than the claimed standard's, a one-sided limit where a range applies, or a limit transcribed with the wrong comparator each make a printed "pass" meaningless. The review compares printed limits to the claimed standard's limits before it compares any result to anything.
A worked example
A certificate prints an illustrative assay criterion of "98.0% to 102.0%" where the claimed standard's range is narrower. The reported 98.2% passes the printed range and fails the claimed one; the certificate's own promise is the problem.
Examples are synthetic and illustrative; any limits shown are not the requirements for any particular material.
Read next
The COA Validator checks the element this term describes on every certificate it reads, and reports what is present, what is missing and what does not add up.