I think some of you are mixing up minimum and maximum.
In my area :
There is a minimum expected (500ft/min ) but you can do less , and there is no maximum as any F16 or F18 pilot will tell you. (A military can fly GAT on an IFR Flight plan..)
Like with many things in life , you can get everything you want if you ask properly.
A DC8 with the reverses deployed can do 10.000ft/min descend no problem ,and if it suits you why not.
An empty B777 will happilly climb like an F16.
phantomlurker : for TCAS RAs it is the opposite my friend, gentle maneouvres, follow RAs with less than 1000ft/min as in 90% of the cases the max deviation TCAS will ask will be 400 ft....do more and you'll overshoot the protection .