Pass the containing cell's ele.Type to CheckElement, and let CheckElement decide which standard to use. If no override is supplied, it uses the element's own type as before.

1. Update CheckElement

Change the function signature and standard lookup to:

Private Sub CheckElement(ByVal ele As Element, _
                         Optional ByVal standardType As Variant)

    Dim oStandard As clsByLevelStandardData
    Dim colorError As Boolean, styleError As Boolean, weightError As Boolean
    Dim nErrors As Integer

    On Error GoTo ReportError

    ' Use the supplied standard type when present.
    ' Otherwise, use the element's own type.
    If IsMissing(standardType) Then
        Set oStandard = byLevelStandards(ele.Type)
    Else
        Set oStandard = byLevelStandards(CLng(standardType))
    End If

    ' Keep the rest of your existing CheckElement code here.

Keep the remainder of existing function.

2. Update CheckComponents

Only one change the call to CheckElement:

Private Sub CheckComponents(ele As ComplexElement)
    Dim ee As ElementEnumerator

    Set ee = ele.GetSubElements

    Do While ee.MoveNext
        If m_aborted Then Exit Sub

        If ee.Current.IsCellElement Then
            CheckComponents ee.Current
        Else
            ' Pass the containing cell's type as the standard override.
            CheckElement ee.Current, ele.Type
        End If
    Loop
End Sub