Welding imperfections remain a significant concern in the fabrication of structures and components across diverse industries. Within the field of civil engineering, EN 1993‑1‑8 refers to a minimum ISO 5817 quality level C for welded connections subjected to static loading. However, for structures fabricated according to EN 1090‑2 execution class EXC1 this requirement might be too strict. The justification for adopting a quality level C is not explicitly stated in the background document of Eurocode 3. To address this gap, an experimental campaign was conducted on 27 load‐carrying cruciform joint specimens loaded in tension with imperfections, including root gaps, undercuts and lack of penetration. Non‐destructive tests, including visual testing, 3D scanning and ultrasonic testing, were employed to characterise the imperfections. The findings demonstrated that undercut combined with fillet weld asymmetry at quality level lower than D significantly reduced the force ratio by 21%, while lack of penetration at the same quality level led to a 4% reduction. Moreover, root gaps at quality level D increased the sensitivity to imperfections such as lack of root fusion. The observed reductions were quantified based on reference specimens, thereby providing a rationale for reassessing the necessity of quality level C in EN 1993‑1‑8 for static resistance.