So long as the alternative described in the BER exists within the CHOICE, CMIP services sends the CHOICE in the same format an application program uses to send a CHOICE to CMIP services. (An alternative is one of the options specified in the CHOICE syntax.)

CMIP services places labels in the string for all elements of the syntax that are present.

If CMIP services cannot decode the value, CMIP services sends the value to the application program in hexadecimal BER format, enclosed in delimiters. See Hexadecimal BER format for a description. For example, if CMIP services does not recognize the alternative, CMIP services sends a CHOICE as hexadecimal BER.