The Access to Biological Collections Data schema (ABCD) is the core standard of any BioCASe related network. Its primary use case is the publication of rich natural history collections specimen data, but it can also be used for general species occurrence datasets. It is XML-based (eXtensible Mark-up Language), meaning it stores the information in a structure that can be easily processed by software. The current major version 2.06 has been widely adopted by networks and is an accepted standard of Biodiversity Information Standards (also known as Taxonomic Databases Working Group ).

Dublin Core (DC) is a metadata standard that was originally developed for libraries but its elements have been reused in many other formats as well, e.g. DWC. Dublin Core Metadata Element Set contains 15 elements and is an accepted ISO standard (ISO 15836:2009).

The Darwin Core (DwC) is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information. DwC is an accepted standard of Biodiversity Information Standards (also known as Taxonomic Databases Working Group ).

The Europeana Data Model (EDM) aims at being an integration medium for collecting, connecting and enriching the descriptions provided by Europeana content providers.

The Ecological Metadata Language (EML) is as a set of XML Schema documents that allow for the structural expression of metadata necessary to document a typical data set in ecological sciences.

Europeana Semantic Elements (ESE) is a format, which provides a basic set of elements for describing objects in the cultural heritage domain in a way that is usable for Europeana.

Aim of the INSPIRE Directive is to create a European Union spatial data infrastructure that will help to make spatial or geographical information more accessible and interoperable for a wide range of purposes of EU environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment. On 15 May 2007 the INPIRE Directive came into force and will be implemented in various stages, with full implementation required by 2021.

ISO 19115-1:2014 Geographic information (Metadata) is a standard of the ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and defines the schema required for describing geographic information and services by means of metadata. It provides information about the identification, the extent, the quality, the spatial and temporal aspects, the content, the spatial reference, the portrayal, distribution, and other properties of digital geographic data and services.

The MIxS standard (Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence) is an overarching framework providing a single entry point to all minimum information checklists from the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) and to the environmental packages. MIxS includes the technology-specific checklists from the previous MIGS (Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence) and MIMS (Minimum Information about a Metagenome Sequence) standards. It provides a way to introduce additional checklists such as MIMARKS (Minimum Information about a Marker Gene Sequence), and allows annotation of sample data using environmental packages. MIxS was published in Nature Biotechnology in 2011.