The need for a single, high-level, internationally accepted structure for carbon-14 result databases has been frequently discussed. A high-level communication format based on the requirements for the <i>Radiocarbon</i> publication format, and on local requirements for results processing at the Isotope Measurements Laboratory, AERE Harwell, was first proposed at the 23rd International Symposium on Archaeometry at Naples in 1983 by the author. The 12th International Radiocarbon Conference at Trondheim in 1985 endorsed the establishment of a Radiocarbon Data Base Commission, to report in one year on the agreed design of a minimum data entry common to all carbon-14 laboratory databases. The first steps were left to national agreement: UK carbon-14 laboratories met in London in April 1986, and a similar meeting has been held in the USA. This article reports the details of the UK agreement.