Literature tends to discuss software (and system) requirements quality control, which includes validation and verification, as a heterogeneous process using a great variety of relatively independent techniques. Also, processoriented thinking prevails. In this paper, we attempt to promote the point that this important activity must be studied as a coherent entity. It cannot be seen as a rather mechanical process of checking documents either. Validation, especially, is more an issue of communicating requirements, as constructed by the analysts, back to the stakeholders whose goals those requirements are supposed to meet, and to all those other stakeholders, with whose goals those requirements may conflict. The main problem, therefore, is that of achieving a sufficient level of understanding of the stated requirements by a particular stakeholder, which may be hindered by e.g. lack of technical expertise. In this paper, we develop a unifying framework for requirements quality control. We ...