The goal of this guideline is to increase the efficiency of reference metadata exchange between statistical agencies, and for dissemination (where the consumer may not be known). The quality and timeliness of reference metadata exchange may be improved and harmonised, thereby enabling statistical data to be described more thoroughly in a comparable way using automated, shared systems.

This guideline on "Standardising Reference Metadata Reporting in SDMX" (Version 1.0, June 2019) includes a Global Reference Metadata Concept Scheme (MCS) that enumerates a standard list of reference metadata concepts.

The Global MCS is not sufficient to implement an exchange; therefore, the document also describes how to derive implementation structures from the Global MCS.By following the guideline, the same tools and mappings may be used across separate metadata flows, agencies and domains using community-driven systems, thus saving on reinvention of the same functionality. Furthermore, the use of the Global MCS is intended to boost the automation of metadata exchange.