The scope of this description is to describe the RLC protocol. A description document is intermediate between a stage 2 document and a protocol specification. Once completed, it should be sufficient for manufacturers to start some high level design activities. It should allow as well to assess the complexity of the associated protocol. After the completion of a description document, the drafting of the protocol specification should not have to face difficulties which would impact the other protocols i.e. the radio interface protocol architecture should be stable. This means that some procedures which are felt critical in terms of complexity will need to be studied in more details in the description document so that no problem is faced in the writing of the final protocol. The following lists typical contents for a description document : 1.list of procedures 2.logical flow diagrams for normal procedures 3.logical description of message (where it should be possible to guess roughly the size of the various information elements) 4.principles for error handling 5.some exceptional procedures which are felt critica 6.It should, as far as possible, have the same format and outline as the final specification The following is not covered 1.exact message format 2.all scenarios