Standards on which to base judgements (8)
I believe the answer is:
criteria
'standards on which to base judgements' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for criteria that I've seen before include "Canons" , "Standards by which judgement can be made" , "Standards for assessment" , "Principles or standards by which to judge" , "Standards on which to base judgement" .)