The List of Multi-crop Passport Descriptors (MCPD) provides international standards to exchange passport information of accessions preserved in ex situ collections. These descriptors are in harmony with IPGRI crop descriptors lists and with those used under the FAO World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on plant genetic resources. The revised version (December 2001) of the 1997 MCPD List includes a brief explanation of content, coding scheme and suggested fieldnames for each descriptor to assist in the exchange of this type of data.