The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-08/32.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 31 COM 7B.94, adopted at its 31st session (Christchurch, 2007),
3. Commends the State Party for its exemplary report on the state of conservation of the property and acknowledges the ongoing improvements of the overall legislative, planning and management system for urban conservation;
4. Requests the State Party to improve the effectiveness of its existing planning, management and conservation measures for the property, as recommended by the joint World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS mission, by:
a) strengthening the authority of the National Heritage Institute to enable it to orient the main decisions affecting the integrity of the Historic Centre;
b) clarifying and integrating the rules presently in force to manage processes such as infill, reconstruction, rehabilitation and conservation in a unitary code to improve the ability of the responsible authorities to maintain the integrity of the original fabric of the city;
c) urgently completing and approving the conservation plan for the Historic Centre in order to provide an effective zoning and planning tool for the conservation process in the Historic Centre;
d) completing the management plan of the property within the year 2008 as a comprehensive tool for the coordination of all the different regulatory and policy frameworks existing or foreseen for the Historic Centre, for eventual review by the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies;
5. Encourages the State Party to adopt the following measures proposed by the joint World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS mission to reduce further negative impacts of high rise construction in the property and its buffer zone:
a) complete and adopt the high-rise limitations plan, in order to avoid possible visual intrusion into the historic urban landscape of Prague;
b) conduct an evaluation of the present buffer zones of the Historic Centre in order to assess their effectiveness in protecting the visual integrity of the city and, if needed, extend these and adopt appropriate related zoning regulations;
c) limit, in the case of the Pankrác Plain, the height of the new high-rise constructionsto a maximum of 60-70 m, in order to avoid visual impacts on the historic urban landscape of the property;
d) inform the World Heritage Centre, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, of any project that could affect the visual integrity of the World Heritage site;
6. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2009, a detailed report on the state of conservation of the property, including progress reports on efforts to address the measures proposed above, and in particular concerning the recommendation to curtail heights of planned high rise structures in the Pankrác Plain, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 33rd session in 2009.