I.A.1. Record-Declaration [Mandatory]
Identifies the data as a record. This data element consists of a bit stream asserting that what follows is a record. The presence of the record declaration can be determined without opening the record, but if the record is opened it loses this value.

I.A.2. Transaction-Domain-Identifier [Mandatory]
Uniquely identifies the domain from which the record originated with sufficient specificity to identify the transaction-type and the organization responsible.

I.A.3. Transaction-Instance-Identifier [Mandatory]
Uniquely identifies a transaction instance with date, time and necessary sequence identifiers.

I.B.1. Content-Description-Standard [Optional, except in cases of privacy act defined content]
Identifies standards governing content-descriptors. Privacy controlled content must be identified according to privacy act standards.

I.B.2. Content-Descriptor [Optional]
Provides terms used by the office of origin/receipt to describe or index the record.

I.B.3 Record-Natural-Language [Optional]
Identifies the natural; language of the record (e.g. English, French, Portuguese)