This part of ISO/IEC 13238 enables the bulk transfer of all or part of the data contained in an Information Resource Dictionary (IRD) or in an Information Resource Dictionary Definition conforming to ISO/IEC 10728:1993 IRDS Services Interface.

This part of ISO/IEC 13238 defines a format for such a transfer and also services to generate the export file and services to import the file. These services are additional to the existing services defined in the IRDS Services Interface.

This version of this part of ISO/IEC 13238 defines a limited set of Export and Import services. It is expected that implementations will also provide more sophisticated services based on the use of the Transfer File structure defined in this part of ISO/IEC 13238.

The physical way in which the transfer takes place is outside the scope of this part of ISO/IEC 13238. Each transfer may be effected in one of several ways including the physical transfer of the data using a transportable storage device.