According to Article 5(1) of INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC, Member States shall ensure that metadata are created for the spatial data sets and services corresponding to the themes listed in Annexes I, II and III, and that those metadata are kept up to date.
The Regulation as regards metadata (and subsequent amendments) and Technical guidelines set out the requirements for the creation and maintenance of this metadata.
The INSPIRE Implementing Rules on Metadata (IRs) specify what needs to be implemented at an abstract and generic level, the non-binding Technical Guidelines specify how legal obligations could be implemented.