COA Intake Checklist

The cheapest moment to catch a certificate defect is at receiving, before the case reaches the shelf. This checklist is built for that moment.

It checks two separate things, and keeping them separate is the point: does the certificate carry what the rule requires, and does it demonstrably describe the product that just arrived.

Part 1 — Required contents

25 TAC §300.301(d) names twelve required fields. Confirm each is present:

1. Laboratory identification and contact information
2. Sample identification
3. Lot identification
4. Analytical methods used
5. Instrumentation used
6. Limits of detection (LOD)
7. Limits of quantitation (LOQ)
8. Expiration date
9. Measurement-of-uncertainty analysis parameters
10. QR code verifying authenticity of testing at an accredited laboratory
11. Delta-9 THC result
12. Total delta-9 THC result and total THC per container

Source: 25 TAC §300.301(d), adopted rules filed with the Secretary of State March 2, 2026 (TRD-202601066). In effect March 31, 2026.

Most commonly absent, check these first: expiration date, LOD and LOQ, measurement-of-uncertainty parameters.

Part 2 — The identity join

This is the part that a document-only review misses entirely.

• [ ] Does the lot identifier on the certificate match the lot identifier on the physical product?
• [ ] Does it match the lot identifier on the receiving paperwork?
• [ ] Where the certificate reports a sample ID, is it clear how that maps to the lot?
• [ ] If two deliveries of the same product arrived together, can they be told apart on the shelf?

If any of these fails, record it as an open mismatch rather than resolving it by inference. Same vendor and same week is not the same lot, and a guess recorded as a fact is the failure this checklist exists to prevent.

Part 3 — Time

• [ ] Record the expiration date as data, somewhere queryable — not only inside the PDF.
• [ ] Does the certificate arrive already close to expiry? If so, that is a known future gap; raise it now.
• [ ] Can you answer "what expires in the next 30 days" without opening files individually?

Part 4 — The derived value

• [ ] Are all three THC values present: delta-9 THC, total delta-9 THC, total THC per container?
• [ ] If total delta-9 THC is absent, is THCA reported so the value can be computed as delta-9 + (0.877 x THCA)?
• [ ] If THCA is not reported, flag the certificate as carrying an underivable required value — this cannot be resolved by reading more carefully.

Part 5 — Filing

• [ ] Filed so it is retrievable by lot, not only by vendor.
• [ ] Retrievable by someone who did not file it. If it needs institutional memory, it will not be found on a Saturday.

What this checklist does not do

It does not establish that a product may lawfully be offered for sale, and completing it is not a prediction about the outcome of an inspection. It establishes whether the certificate carries its required contents and whether it demonstrably describes what you received — which are the two questions you can actually answer at the loading dock.