The application of a Formal Description Technique (FDT) such as ASN.1 facilitates the specification and the realization of communicating applications.

Provided that both sides have the knowledge of the notation, they can read and understand the specification more easily.

The specification can be verified for completeness and preciseness by some automatic tools.

The definition of systematic Encoding Rules is facilitated, because the rules can apply to the elements of the notation (e.g. all values defined as INTEGER are encoded as such, all values defined as OCTET STRING are encoded as such, etc...).

The production of implementations can be automated by the use of some tools such as compilers of the notation.