diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/Config/Metadata.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/Config/Metadata.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..5f10c639d8abb49f1ccd4f1cbba370d5ccb59613
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Utils/Config/Metadata.php
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Class with utilities to fetch different configuration objects from metadata configuration arrays.
+ *
+ * @package SimpleSAMLphp
+ * @author Jaime PĂ©rez Crespo, UNINETT AS <jaime.perez@uninett.no>
+ */
+class SimpleSAML_Utils_Config_Metadata {
+
+    /**
+     * Parse and sanitize a contact from an array.
+     *
+     * Accepts an array with the following elements:
+     * - contactType     The type of the contact (as string). Mandatory.
+     * - emailAddress    Email address (as string), or array of email addresses. Optional.
+     * - telephoneNumber Telephone number of contact (as string), or array of telephone numbers. Optional.
+     * - name            Full name of contact, either as <GivenName> <SurName>, or as <SurName>, <GivenName>. Optional.
+     * - surName         Surname of contact (as string). Optional.
+     * - givenName       Givenname of contact (as string). Optional.
+     * - company         Company name of contact (as string). Optional.
+     *
+     * The following values are allowed as "contactType":
+     * - technical
+     * - support
+     * - administrative
+     * - billing
+     * - other
+     *
+     * If given a "name" it will try to decompose it into its given name and surname, only if neither givenName nor
+     * surName are present. It works as follows:
+     * - "surname1 surname2, given_name1 given_name2"
+     *      givenName: "given_name1 given_name2"
+     *      surname: "surname1 surname2"
+     * - "given_name surname"
+     *      givenName: "given_name"
+     *      surname: "surname"
+     *
+     * otherwise it will just return the name as "givenName" in the resulting array.
+     *
+     * @param array $contact The contact to parse and sanitize.
+     * @return array An array holding valid contact configuration options. If a key 'name' was part of the input array,
+     * it will try to decompose the name into its parts, and place the parts into givenName and surName, if those are
+     * missing.
+     * @throws InvalidArgumentException if the contact does not conform to valid configuration rules for contacts.
+     */
+    public static function getContact($contact)
+    {
+        assert('is_array($contact) || is_null($contact)');
+        $valid_options = array('contactType', 'emailAddress', 'givenName', 'surName', 'telephoneNumber', 'company');
+        $valid_types   = array('technical', 'support', 'administrative', 'billing', 'other');
+
+        // check the type
+        if (!isset($contact['contactType']) || !in_array($contact['contactType'], $valid_types, true)) {
+            $types = join(', ', array_map(
+                function($t) {
+                    return '"'.$t.'"';
+                },
+                $valid_types
+            ));
+            throw new InvalidArgumentException('"contactType" is mandatory and must be one of '. $types.".");
+        }
+
+        // try to fill in givenName and surName from name
+        if (isset($contact['name']) && !isset($contact['givenName']) && !isset($contact['surName'])) {
+            // first check if it's comma separated
+            $names = explode(',', $contact['name'], 2);
+            if (count($names) === 2) {
+                $contact['surName'] = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($names[0]));
+                $contact['givenName'] = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($names[1]));
+            } else {
+                // check if it's in "given name surname" format
+                $names = explode(' ', preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($contact['name'])));
+                if (count($names) === 2) {
+                    $contact['givenName'] = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($names[0]));
+                    $contact['surName'] = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($names[1]));
+                } else {
+                    // nothing works, return it as given name
+                    $contact['givenName'] = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', trim($contact['name']));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // check givenName
+        if (isset($contact['givenName']) && (
+                empty($contact['givenName']) || !is_string($contact['givenName'])
+            )) {
+            throw new InvalidArgumentException('"givenName" must be a string and cannot be empty.');
+        }
+
+        // check surName
+        if (isset($contact['surName']) && (
+                empty($contact['surName']) || !is_string($contact['surName'])
+            )) {
+            throw new InvalidArgumentException('"surName" must be a string and cannot be empty.');
+        }
+
+        // check company
+        if (isset($contact['company']) && (
+                empty($contact['company']) || !is_string($contact['company'])
+            )) {
+            throw new InvalidArgumentException('"company" must be a string and cannot be empty.');
+        }
+
+        // check emailAddress
+        if (isset($contact['emailAddress'])) {
+            if (empty($contact['emailAddress']) ||
+                !(is_string($contact['emailAddress']) || is_array($contact['emailAddress']))) {
+                throw new InvalidArgumentException('"emailAddress" must be a string or an array and cannot be empty.');
+            }
+            if (is_array($contact['emailAddress'])) {
+                foreach ($contact['emailAddress'] as $address) {
+                    if (!is_string($address) || empty($address)) {
+                        throw new InvalidArgumentException('Email addresses must be a string and cannot be empty.');
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // check telephoneNumber
+        if (isset($contact['telephoneNumber'])) {
+            if (empty($contact['telephoneNumber']) ||
+                !(is_string($contact['telephoneNumber']) || is_array($contact['telephoneNumber']))) {
+                throw new InvalidArgumentException('"telephoneNumber" must be a string or an array and cannot be empty.');
+            }
+            if (is_array($contact['telephoneNumber'])) {
+                foreach ($contact['telephoneNumber'] as $address) {
+                    if (!is_string($address) || empty($address)) {
+                        throw new InvalidArgumentException('Telephone numbers must be a string and cannot be empty.');
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // make sure only valid options are outputted
+        return array_intersect_key($contact, array_flip($valid_options));
+    }
+
+}