Revision of the Operational Guidelines

WHC/16/40.COM/11

The World Heritage Committee at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015) adopted a revision to the Operational Guidelines. The revised 2015 text is available on the World Heritage Centre webpage https://whc.unesco.org/document/137843.  

However, following an extensive debate, the Committee did not find a consensus concerning the revision of Paragraph 61. Therefore, in its Decision 39 COM 11, the Committee decided “to extend the mandate of the ad hoc working group extended by one extra regional group representative who is not a member of the World Heritage Committee, established at the 38th session (Doha, 2014) to be convened by Turkey, to further discuss and make recommendations on Paragraph 61 as well as on the sustainability of the World Heritage Fund”. In the same Decision, the Committee decided on an exceptional basis to re-examine Paragraph 68 as well as Annex 2A of the Operational Guidelines.

The present document contains a proposal for revision of Paragraph 61 of the Operational Guidelines which will have to be addressed jointly with the outcomes of the ad hoc working group (see Document WHC/16/40.COM/13A).

This document also contains a proposal for the revision of Paragraph 68 and addresses Annex 2A.