Decision 45 COM 12

Revision of the Operational Guidelines

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examinedDocument WHC/23/45.COM/12,
   
   PART I – Assessment of the impact of Decision 40 COM 11 (Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines)
2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 11 and 44 COM 8 adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Taking into account the heavy budget constraints of the World Heritage Fund and the need for an effective management of the increasing size of the World Heritage List and the call for a more balanced World Heritage List,
4. Decides that the impact of the proposed amendments of Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines will be assessed at the 51^st session of the World Heritage Committee, and encourages States Parties to consider submitting nominations under natural criteria, based on IUCN’s regional and thematic studies;
5. Adopts the proposed revision of Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines, as presented in Annex 1 of Document WHC/23/45.COM/12;
   
   PART II – Revision of Chapter VIII and Annex 14 of the Operational Guidelines concerning the World Heritage Emblem and its use following the changes to the UNESCO logo
6. Also takes note of the new “Graphical Standards and Logo Toolkit” document issued by UNESCO Secretariat in July 2021 as a response to the recommendations of the Working Group on Communication established within the Strategic Transformation process;
7. Recognizing that changes reflected in this new toolkit will have an impact on the joint use of the UNESCO logo and World Heritage emblem, consequently adopts the revisions to Chapter VIII and Annex 14 of the Operational Guidelines proposed in Annex 2 of Document WHC/23/45.COM/12.