Decision 46 COM 7B.3

Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment) (Austria, Germany, Slovakia) (C 1608rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/24/46.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 8B.24 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Welcomes the submission of a minor boundary modification request to the World Heritage Centre for the establishment of buffer zones for a small number of components, and requests that a buffer zone also be established for the component part at Albing (1608-rev038) by also submitting a further minor boundary modification request to the World Heritage Centre;
4. Takes note of the progress made by the States Parties and also requests them to continue to address the issues identified at the time of inscription, including by:
   1. Clarifying whether all States Parties are members of the Scientific Advisory Board, establishing a common database and further developing the research framework and making its outcomes available to all the relevant stakeholders,
   2. Continuing to work on the preparation of a clear and consistent approach to reconstruction works for all component parts and submitting this approach as a draft to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS prior to its finalisation,
   3. Developing and adopting a proactive long-term strategy, promoting legal and policy mechanisms as appropriate, to allow all component parts and their buffer zones to be excluded from ploughing and other potentially harmful agricultural activities,
   4. Strengthening coordinated management with the relevant water and river authorities to develop integrated management plans for the property at national and transnational levels, including disaster risk assessment, prevention and management measures for controlling the flow of the Danube and preventing or managing flooding of components and their settings,
   5. Continuing to survey and document the entire ensemble of temporary camps as an archaeological landscape,
   6. Clarifying whether a Heritage Impact Assessment has been carried out for the extension of the existing wind park outside the southern part of the buffer zone of the Carnuntum component to avoid any negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and introduce regulations to ensure that the landscape setting of other component parts is not compromised by new renewable energy infrastructure or other infrastructure projects,
   7. Continuing to enhance outreach and community engagement across all component parts of the property,
   8. Ensuring that appropriate legal frameworks are in place to allow Impact Assessments, prepared in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, to be routinely used to assess the impact of proposed changes that may impact on component parts or their settings, and ensure that all projects that may have an impact on the OUV of the property are submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by ICOMOS in accordance with paragraphs 118bis and 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
5. Finally requests the States Parties to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2025, an updated joint report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 48th session.