ISO/TS 29002-5:2009 specifies the data elements and a syntax for an unambiguous identifier for an administered item. The identifier is called an "international registration data identifier" (IRDI), as specified in ISO/IEC 11179-5. An administered item is any registry item for which administrative information is recorded. For the purposes of ISO/TS 29002-5:2009, an administered item can be a concept or concept information element in a concept dictionary. "Concept information element" includes things such as terminology (terms, abbreviations, definitions, images, symbols), assignment of a concept to a class of similar concepts (the concept type), and references to source documents.

ISO/TS 29002-5:2009 was developed as a common resource to provide a level of interoperability between implementations of ISO 13584 and ISO/TS 22745. Its use is not restricted to these standards, however. It can be restricted through implementation profiles by standards that reference it. It can also be implemented without restriction.