See http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.html and http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml for information about this namespace. This schema defines attributes and an attribute group suitable for use by schemas wishing to allow xml:base, xml:lang or xml:space attributes on elements they define. To enable this, such a schema must import this schema for the XML namespace, e.g. as follows: <schema . . .> . . . <import namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace" schemaLocation="http://www.w3.org/2001/03/xml.xsd"/> Subsequently, qualified reference to any of the attributes or the group defined below will have the desired effect, e.g. <type . . .> . . . <attributeGroup ref="xml:specialAttrs"/> will define a type which will schema-validate an instance element with any of those attributes In keeping with the XML Schema WG's standard versioning policy, this schema document will persist at http://www.w3.org/2001/03/xml.xsd. At the date of issue it can also be found at http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd. The schema document at that URI may however change in the future, in order to remain compatible with the latest version of XML Schema itself. In other words, if the XML Schema namespace changes, the version of this document at http://www.w3.org/2001/xml.xsd will change accordingly; the version at http://www.w3.org/2001/03/xml.xsd will not change. In due course, we should install the relevant ISO 2- and 3-letter codes as the enumerated possible values . . . See http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlbase/ for information about this attribute.