scope:

ISO/IEC 20944 is a series of International Standards that describe codings, APIs, and protocols for interacting with an ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry (MDR). This part of ISO/IEC 20944 provides the overview, framework, common vocabulary, and common provisions for conformance for ISO/IEC 20944. It addresses the following data interoperability features1: - a common framework for variety control: harmonized concepts for conforming implementations and strictly conforming implementations; - harmonized provisions, such as mandatory requirements2 and optional requirements3, and their consistent application across all bindings of ISO/IEC 20944; - harmonized and consistent treatment of data elements with varying data obligation attributes (e.g., mandatory, conditional, optional, extended) and varying data longevity attributes (e.g., in-use, obsolete, reserved, etc.). This part of ISO/IEC 20944 also includes a rationale that guided its development. The rationale also discusses the harmonized use of profiles (e.g., subsets, supersets, changes, etc.) of the data structure and data elements.