This International Standard, Remote Database Access for SQL (RDA), defines a model for the remote interaction of an SQL-client and one or more SQL-servers through communication media, and defines the encoding of messages, the semantics of messages and associated facilities for mediating the interaction between one SQL-client and one SQL-server. This International Standard also defines a mapping of the RDA Protocol to the specific communication infrastructures TCP/IP and Transport Layer Security (TLS). This International Standard relies upon the facilities provided by ISO/IEC 9075 (SQL) and ISO/IEC 9075-3 (SQL/CLI). This International Standard also: — identifies potential security vulnerabilities in remote database access using RDA, — defines RDA facilities which protect against the potential vulnerabilities. Normative annexes provide: — a Conformance Proforma, — an optional language independent Application Programming Interface defined in the notational conventions of ISO/IEC 9075-3 (SQL/CLI) for invoking RDA Operations, — an optional mapping of ISO/IEC 9075-3 (SQL/CLI) functions to RDA Operations, — definitions of optional SQL-servers, the RDA Location Server and the RDA Support Server, to facilitate interoperation and data distribution in a heterogeneous environment, — a set of security profiles that identify which RDA facilities and other security facilities are required for different levels of protection against potential vulnerabilities. Informative annexes provide: — an analysis of security service requirements, — an ASN.1 specification for the RDA Protocol, — an ASN.1 specification for the encoding of multiple rows. This International Standard does not constrain: — conforming RDA-client environments to be implemented using any particular processor decomposition, — conforming RDA-server environments to be implemented using any particular processor decomposition. This International Standard refers to but does not define: — protocols and security mechanisms for communication confidentiality, integrity and authentication of communicating peers, — digital signature and authentication mechanisms supported by protocol elements of RDA. This International Standard does not define: — algorithms for query decomposition or for the combining of results in a distributed database environment, — mechanisms for recovery in the event that transaction co-ordination fails, — mechanisms for storage integrity and confidentiality using cryptography, — mechanisms to counter Denial of Service attacks.