[en] The present Safety Guide has to be seen as a companion document to the IAEA Safety Series No. 99. It is concerned with the waste form which is an important component of the overall disposal system. Because of the broad range of waste types and conditioned forms and variations in the sites, designs and constructional approaches being considered for deep geological repositories, this report necessarily approaches the waste acceptance criteria in a general way, recognizing that the assignment of quantitative limits to these criteria has to be the responsibility of national authorities. The main objective of this Safety Guide is to set out qualitative waste acceptance criteria as a basis for specifying quantitative limits for the waste forms and packages which are intended to be disposed of in deep geological repositories. It should serve as guidance for assigning such parameter values which would fully comply with the safety assessment and performance of a waste disposal system as a whole. This document is intended to serve both national authorities and regulatory bodies involved in the development of deep underground disposal systems. The qualitative waste acceptance criteria dealt with in the present Safety Guide are primarily concerned with the disposal of high level, intermediate level and long-lived alpha bearing wastes in deep geological repositories. Although some criteria are also applicable in other waste disposal concepts, it has to be borne in mind that the set of criteria presented here shall ensure the isolation capability of a waste disposal system for periods of time much longer than for other waste streams with shorter lifetimes. 51 refs, 1 tab