The Committee,

1. Having examined document LHE/19/14.COM/14,
2. Recalling Decisions 12.COM 14, 13.COM 10, 13.COM 6 and 14.COM 12,
3. Further recalling documents ITH/17/12.COM/14, LHE/19/COM/5.b, LHE/19/14.COM/10 and LHE/19/14.COM/12 Add.,
4. Also recallingChapter I.15 of the Operational Directives,
5. Reaffirms the urgent need in view of recent developments and decisions of the Committee, for a global reflection on the listing mechanisms of the Convention;
6. Renews its gratitude to the government of Japan for its contribution to supporting the global reflection on the listing mechanisms of the Convention;
7. Takes note of the provisional timeline for the reflection on the listing mechanisms of the 2003 Convention, as contained in Annex I to this document;
8. Requests that, in addition to the experts to be invited as the main participants, the Secretariat make the meeting of the experts to be held in March 2020 accessible to other experts from States Parties as observers within the limitation of available space;
9. Invites the preliminary experts’ meeting to take into account the debate held by the Committee on this item;
10. Requests that the Secretariat report to the eighth session of the General Assembly and the fifteenth session of the Committee on the results of the category VI preliminary experts’ meeting as well as the ‘early harvest package’ to be organized during the first semester of 2020;
11. Emphasizes that a revision of the Operational Directives is necessary in order to establish clear and specific procedures and criteria for the removal of an element from a list and the transfer of an element from one list to another;
12. Also emphasizes the need to examine possible revisions to criterion R.2, taking into account the recurring challenges encountered by communities, States Parties and the Evaluation Body with this criterion;
13. Acknowledges the need to undertake a reflection on the ways in which the process of extension of multinational elements to new States Parties could be possibly simplified and requests the Secretariat to include this item in the global reflection on the listing mechanism;
14. Further takes note of the four cases, as contained in Annex II to this document, that were subject of correspondence concerning already inscribed elements received by the Secretariat during the reporting period;
15. Further requests that the Secretariat continue to bring to the attention of the Committee information received from third parties concerning already inscribed elements, as well as nominations submitted for possible inscription, and to do so in the form of a summary to be included in a working document regarding the follow-up of already inscribed elements and regarding nominations under consideration;
16. Acknowledges the positive experience that the provisional upstream dialogue process undertaken during the 2019 cycle has brought to the evaluation and inscription process;
17. Recommends that the General Assembly revise the Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention, as contained in Annex III to this document.

Annex