The general secretary of football's lawmakers, the IFAB, has insisted that "offside is offside" when VAR technology is being used "even if it is only a centimetre," after a week of controversy in the Premier League.
Eight goals have been ruled out on marginal offside calls since Christmas Day, including Teemu Pukki's strike for Norwich against Tottenham, and offside in the build-up against Wolves at Liverpool and Aston Villa at Burnley.
IFAB chief Lukas Brud raised eyebrows at the start of the week when he appeared to suggest referees in England were implementing VAR incorrectly on offside by not using the "clear and obvious" qualification and being "too forensic."
But now Brud has clarified his remarks and confirmed that when calibrated lines are being used, as they are in all major European leagues and competitions with the Hawkeye system, the decision must be based on the result of the technology and not be subjective.
"If the images with calibrated lines and the perpendicular line show that there is an offside position, the video assistant should continue to report," Brud told sportschau.de. "Even if it is only a centimetre. Offside is offside."
Brud, who ruled out any "tolerance limit" or "margin of error" being applied to offside, said that he only spoke to reference the principle of the "clear, obvious mistake."
He added: "The point is that the video assistant must quickly understand whether there is an offside. He should not line up every minute for every perspective."
Brud had told the Press Association on Monday that "'clear and obvious' applies to every single situation that is being reviewed by the VAR or the referee" and that "if you spend multiple minutes trying to identify whether it is offside or not, then it's not clear and obvious and the original decision should stand."