The Evaluation Body

1.

shall be composed of twelve members appointed by the Committee: six experts qualified in the various fields of intangible cultural heritage representative of States Parties
non-Members of the Committee and six accredited non-governmental organizations, taking into consideration equitable geographical representation and various domains of intangible cultural heritage;

2.

shall elect its Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Rapporteur;

3.

shall hold private meetings in accordance with Rule 19 of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee;

4.

shall be responsible for the evaluation of nominations for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, of proposed programmes, projects and activities that best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention and of International Assistance requests greater than US$100,000, in conformity with the Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention. It shall, in particular, include in its evaluation:

a.

an assessment of the conformity of nominations to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding with the inscription criteria as provided in Chapter I.1 of the Operational Directives, including an assessment of the viability of the element and the feasibility and sufficiency of the safeguarding plan, and an assessment of the risks of it disappearing, as provided in Paragraph 29 of the Operational Directives;

b.

an assessment of the conformity of nominations to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity with the inscription criteria as provided in Chapter I.2 of the Operational Directives;

c.

an assessment of the conformity of proposed programmes, projects and activities that best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention with the selection criteria as provided in Chapter I.3 of the Operational Directives;

d.

an assessment of the conformity of International Assistance requests greater than US$100,000 with the selection criteria as provided in Chapter I.4 of the Operational Directives;

e.

a recommendation to the Committee to

- inscribe, not to inscribe the nominated element on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding or the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, or to refer the nomination to the submitting State(s) for additional information;

- select or not to select the proposed programmes, projects and activity that best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention or to refer the proposal to the submitting State(s) for additional information;

- approve or not to approve the International Assistance request greater than US$100,000, or to refer the request to the submitting State(s) for additional information;

5.

shall be responsible, pursuant to Decision 10.COM 19 concerning the request of Viet Nam to transfer the element ‘Xoan singing of Phú Thọ Province, Viet Nam’ from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, on an exceptional basis and pending the adoption of relevant procedures by the General Assembly in 2018, for the evaluation:

- firstly, of the report submitted by Viet Nam on the status of the above-mentioned element; it shall, in particular, include in its evaluation a recommendation to the Committee to remove or not the above-mentioned element from the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding;

- secondly, of the conformity of a new nomination concerning the same element to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity with the inscription criteria as provided in Chapter I.2 of the Operational Directives; it shall, in particular, include in its evaluation a recommendation to the Committee to inscribe, not to inscribe the nominated element on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, or to refer the nomination to the submitting State for additional information.

6.

shall provide the Committee with an overview of all files and a report of its evaluation;

7.

shall cease to exist following submission to the twelfth session of the Committee of the report on its evaluation of files to be examined by the Committee in 2017.

Once appointed by the Committee, the members of the Evaluation Body shall act impartially in the interests of all States Parties and the Convention.