This part of ISO/IEC 11179 defines the type of information to be specified, the conditions to be met, and the procedure(s) to be followed for each metadata item to be registered in a metadataregistry. The requirements and procedures contained herein apply to all metadata items specified in ISO/IEC 11179‑3 and those specified in ISO/IEC 19763. Some Registration Authorities may want to use this part of ISO/IEC 11179 to register and manage locally defined metadata item types that are not defined in ISO/IEC 11179‑3 or ISO/IEC 19763.

This part of ISO/IEC 11179 addresses the common metadata that is used to document the common facilities of a metadataregistry: administration, identification, naming and definition, details that can apply to any and all types of metadata items.