The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B.Add,
- Recalling Decision 40 COM 7B.54, adopted at its 40th session (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016),
- Welcomes the ongoing work by the State Party on legal, planning and management matters and acknowledges the work undertaken as part of the Kotor Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) to analyse in general the weakness of the current overall protection system, and the proposals for the development of a Spatial Urban Plan for the Municipality of Kotor;
- Notes the proposal to centralize the production of HIAs as a means of mitigating negative impacts of development proposals that have been submitted, but considers that this measure cannot compensate for the lack of adequate legal and planning mechanisms for the overall landscape of the property;
- Remains concerned that considerable further work is needed to analyze in detail the weaknesses of the current Spatial and Urban Plans in force for the property's territory and its buffer zone, as a prelude to developing means to strengthen them;
- Considering ICOMOS’ technical review of the HIA of the project, urges the State Party to abandon the Kotor-St John’s Fortress cable car project to prevent any negative impact on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
- Strongly requests the State Party to maintain the moratorium on any new construction and development until a complete suite of planning and protection measures are in force to satisfactorily accommodate possible sustainable developments within the sensitive landscape of the area and prevent any impact on the cultural and landscape values of the property;
- Also requests the State Party to complete all relevant actions in response to the Committee’s previous decisions, in particular to carry out HIAs for all ongoing or planned development projects, including the transport connection at Verige and the tourist facility at Glavati – Prčanj, as well as to submit the results of the HIAs to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, prior to undertaking any further commitments;
- Further requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to assess its state of conservation, as well as the various reports and legal amendments that have been produced and to advise on what further work is needed to strengthen the legal and planning protection of the property and its buffer zone and to coordinate its management;
- Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2019, an updated detailed report on the state of conservation of all components of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 43rd session in 2019.