diff --git a/Documentation/guides/pipeline-handler.rst b/Documentation/guides/pipeline-handler.rst
index 728e9676b4a6..b0d77d795211 100644
--- a/Documentation/guides/pipeline-handler.rst
+++ b/Documentation/guides/pipeline-handler.rst
@@ -610,10 +610,15 @@ information can be found in the `ControlInfoMap`_ class documentation.
 .. _ControlInfoMap: https://libcamera.org/api-html/classlibcamera_1_1ControlInfoMap.html
 
 Pipeline handlers register controls to expose the tunable device and IPA
-parameters to applications. Our example pipeline handler only exposes trivial
-controls of the video device, by registering a ``ControlId`` instance with
-associated values for each supported V4L2 control but demonstrates the mapping
-of V4L2 Controls to libcamera ControlIDs.
+parameters to applications and register properties to expose the Camera
+immutable characteristics. Controls and properties which have the ``required``
+field specified in the YAML definition are mandatory to be supported by a Camera
+in order for it to comply with the libcamera API specification.
+
+Our example pipeline handler only exposes trivial controls of the video device,
+by registering a ``ControlId`` instance with associated values for each
+supported V4L2 control but demonstrates the mapping of V4L2 Controls to
+libcamera ControlIDs.
 
 Complete the initialization of the ``VividCameraData`` class by adding the
 following code to the ``VividCameraData::init()`` function to initialise the
diff --git a/include/libcamera/controls.h b/include/libcamera/controls.h
index 82b955995380..0382a99de7fa 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/controls.h
+++ b/include/libcamera/controls.h
@@ -213,14 +213,15 @@ private:
 class ControlId
 {
 public:
-	ControlId(unsigned int id, const std::string &name, ControlType type)
-		: id_(id), name_(name), type_(type)
+	ControlId(unsigned int id, const std::string &name, ControlType type, bool required)
+		: id_(id), name_(name), type_(type), required_(required)
 	{
 	}
 
 	unsigned int id() const { return id_; }
 	const std::string &name() const { return name_; }
 	ControlType type() const { return type_; }
+	bool required() const { return required_; }
 
 private:
 	LIBCAMERA_DISABLE_COPY_AND_MOVE(ControlId)
@@ -228,6 +229,7 @@ private:
 	unsigned int id_;
 	std::string name_;
 	ControlType type_;
+	bool required_;
 };
 
 static inline bool operator==(unsigned int lhs, const ControlId &rhs)
@@ -256,8 +258,8 @@ class Control : public ControlId
 public:
 	using type = T;
 
-	Control(unsigned int id, const char *name)
-		: ControlId(id, name, details::control_type<std::remove_cv_t<T>>::value)
+	Control(unsigned int id, const char *name, bool required)
+		: ControlId(id, name, details::control_type<std::remove_cv_t<T>>::value, required)
 	{
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/libcamera/ipa/ipa_controls.h b/include/libcamera/ipa/ipa_controls.h
index e5da1946ce1d..5268b0a8f659 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/ipa/ipa_controls.h
+++ b/include/libcamera/ipa/ipa_controls.h
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ struct ipa_control_info_entry {
 	uint32_t id;
 	uint32_t type;
 	uint32_t offset;
-	uint32_t padding[1];
+	uint8_t required;
+	uint8_t padding[3];
 };
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/src/libcamera/control_serializer.cpp b/src/libcamera/control_serializer.cpp
index 0cf719bde798..b9ed1eea6552 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/control_serializer.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/control_serializer.cpp
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ int ControlSerializer::serialize(const ControlInfoMap &infoMap,
 		entry.id = id->id();
 		entry.type = id->type();
 		entry.offset = values.offset();
+		entry.required = id->required();
 		entries.write(&entry);
 
 		store(info, values);
@@ -498,7 +499,8 @@ ControlInfoMap ControlSerializer::deserialize<ControlInfoMap>(ByteStreamBuffer &
 			 * debugging purpose.
 			 */
 			controlIds_.emplace_back(std::make_unique<ControlId>(entry->id,
-									     "", type));
+									     "", type,
+									     entry->required));
 			(*localIdMap)[entry->id] = controlIds_.back().get();
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/libcamera/controls.cpp b/src/libcamera/controls.cpp
index 16d3547c8c07..2799d89869d7 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/controls.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/controls.cpp
@@ -378,18 +378,19 @@ void ControlValue::reserve(ControlType type, bool isArray, std::size_t numElemen
  * \class ControlId
  * \brief Control static metadata
  *
- * The ControlId class stores a control ID, name and data type. It provides
- * unique identification of a control, but without support for compile-time
- * type deduction that the derived template Control class supports. See the
- * Control class for more information.
+ * The ControlId class stores a control ID, name, data type and a boolean
+ * 'required' flag. It provides unique identification of a control, but without
+ * support for compile-time type deduction that the derived template Control
+ * class supports. See the Control class for more information.
  */
 
 /**
- * \fn ControlId::ControlId(unsigned int id, const std::string &name, ControlType type)
+ * \fn ControlId::ControlId(unsigned int id, const std::string &name, ControlType type, bool required)
  * \brief Construct a ControlId instance
  * \param[in] id The control numerical ID
  * \param[in] name The control name
  * \param[in] type The control data type
+ * \param[in] required Boolean flag that determine if the control is required
  */
 
 /**
@@ -410,6 +411,16 @@ void ControlValue::reserve(ControlType type, bool isArray, std::size_t numElemen
  * \return The control data type
  */
 
+/**
+ * \fn bool ControlId::required() const
+ * \brief Determine if the control is required or not
+ *
+ * A control is 'required' if it is mandatory for a Camera to support it to
+ * comply with the libcamera API specification.
+ *
+ * \return True if the control is required, false otherwise
+ */
+
 /**
  * \fn bool operator==(unsigned int lhs, const ControlId &rhs)
  * \brief Compare a ControlId with a control numerical ID
@@ -456,10 +467,11 @@ void ControlValue::reserve(ControlType type, bool isArray, std::size_t numElemen
  */
 
 /**
- * \fn Control::Control(unsigned int id, const char *name)
+ * \fn Control::Control(unsigned int id, const char *name, bool required)
  * \brief Construct a Control instance
  * \param[in] id The control numerical ID
  * \param[in] name The control name
+ * \param[in] required Boolean flag that determine if a control is required
  *
  * The control data type is automatically deduced from the template type T.
  */
diff --git a/src/libcamera/ipa_controls.cpp b/src/libcamera/ipa_controls.cpp
index 870a443b0f38..2376cbd9df60 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/ipa_controls.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/ipa_controls.cpp
@@ -220,6 +220,8 @@ static_assert(sizeof(ipa_control_value_entry) == 16,
  * \var ipa_control_info_entry::offset
  * The offset in bytes from the beginning of the data section to the control
  * info data (shall be a multiple of 8 bytes)
+ * \var ipa_control_info_entry::required
+ * Boolean flag that determines if the controls is required or not
  * \var ipa_control_info_entry::padding
  * Padding bytes (shall be set to 0)
  */
diff --git a/src/libcamera/v4l2_device.cpp b/src/libcamera/v4l2_device.cpp
index 24d208ef77dc..b055d14c2e51 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/v4l2_device.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/v4l2_device.cpp
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<ControlId> V4L2Device::v4l2ControlId(const v4l2_query_ext_ctrl &
 	const std::string name(static_cast<const char *>(ctrl.name), len);
 	const ControlType type = v4l2CtrlType(ctrl.type);
 
-	return std::make_unique<ControlId>(ctrl.id, name, type);
+	return std::make_unique<ControlId>(ctrl.id, name, type, false);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/utils/gen-controls.py b/utils/gen-controls.py
index 6cd5e362c66f..1e997708b10d 100755
--- a/utils/gen-controls.py
+++ b/utils/gen-controls.py
@@ -112,6 +112,11 @@ class Control(object):
         else:
             return f"Span<const {typ}>"
 
+    @property
+    def required(self):
+        """Is the control required"""
+        return self.__data.get('required')
+
 
 def snake_case(s):
     return ''.join([c.isupper() and ('_' + c) or c for c in s]).strip('_')
@@ -133,7 +138,7 @@ ${description}''')
  * \\var ${name}
 ${description}
  */''')
-    def_template = string.Template('extern const Control<${type}> ${name}(${id_name}, "${name}");')
+    def_template = string.Template('extern const Control<${type}> ${name}(${id_name}, "${name}", ${required});')
     enum_values_doc = string.Template('''/**
  * \\var ${name}Values
  * \\brief List of all $name supported values
@@ -158,6 +163,7 @@ ${description}
             'type': ctrl.type,
             'description': format_description(ctrl.description),
             'id_name': id_name,
+            'required': "true" if ctrl.required else "false"
         }
 
         target_doc = ctrls_doc[vendor]