Provides the bindings and their interoperability for metadata registries, such as those specified in the ISO/IEC 11179 series of Standards. Contains provisions that are common to protocol bindings and the protocol bindings themselves. The protocol bindings have commonality in their conceptualization of the services provided. Common features include: common data transfer semantics; harmonized session services for connection-oriented and connection-less protocols. Bindings for HTTP and WebDAV protocols are provided.