1. A method for controlling the quality of printed documents, such as banknotes and other similar documents, in an environment where only part of the surface of the printed documents is available for inspection, the method comprising the following steps: storing a reference image that is a scanned image of at least a portion of a reference printed document meeting desired quality requirements, acquiring a sample image of a sample printed document to be controlled, which sample image covers only a limited portion of the sample printed document, selecting a search pattern within the acquired sample image, searching the reference image for a match pattern corresponding to the selected search pattern, determining quality control parameters linked to the position of the search pattern within the sample image and quality control parameters linked to the position of the match pattern within the reference image, comparing the quality control parameters linked to the position of the search pattern within the sample image with the quality control parameters linked to the position of the match pattern within the reference image, based on the results of the comparison of the control parameters, accepting or rejecting the sample printed document.