PDF/UA-1 and PDF/UA-2: what checkers actually implement

ISO 14289 has more than one part, and a checker should say which one it tests. This page says exactly what we test, and what we do not.

What Normfluss checks

Every check runs 119 criteria:

• 107 from PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1), tested by veraPDF 1.30.2, the open source reference validator;
• 12 from the parts of WCAG 2.2 AA that apply to PDFs, each mapped to what can be tested in the file.

They come from a catalogue of 128. The other 9 are kept only so that records signed before the current profile still point at the criteria they were tested against.

What we do not check

veraPDF 1.30.2 ships a validation profile for PDF/UA-2. We have not implemented it: no Normfluss check, fix or record tests a document against PDF/UA-2, and no record of ours states conformance to it.

How to read a checker’s claim

• Which validator, which version, which profile? A named validator and version can be reproduced. A standard’s name on a feature list cannot.
• How many criteria, and which? A list you can read is a claim you can test.
• What does it leave to a person? Whether a description fits its image, or a heading says what its section is about, cannot be decided by software. A checker that reports those as passed has not checked them.