Separate OCR crop recovery from benchmark eligibility

Evaluate OCR regions of interest in two separate stages. For operational recovery, first ask whether the crop preserves or recovers the required identifier; when the original is readable, require agreement with the original, then prefer the tightest box without unrelated content. If neither original nor crop is readable, send the sample for human review rather than widening blindly.

Dataset eligibility is a separate policy gate. If a benchmark or training policy requires the original image to be readable, exclude an unreadable original even when a grounded crop recovers the value. Such a crop can remain operationally useful without becoming an eligible benchmark example.