This sounds like something right out of the "Farm Code." Although the Farm Code is not referenced, it's clear that the word "beet" has been misspelled and the intention implies that the welding shall "exceed" that of D1.2. As a QC manager, when there are discrepancies, part of my job is to get to the root of the problem. In this case, I believe that the author of these specs was probably a disciple of the Farm Code, and more than likely, a farmer, who was hungry and had beets on his mind when he wrote 4.5
This is just my analogy, but if anybody has a different one that beets mine, I'd love to here it.