The Committee,

1. Recalling Article 16 of the Convention,
2. Further recalling Chapter I of the Operational Directives and its Decisions 6.COM 13 and 7.COM 11,
3. Having examined Document ITH/13/8.COM/8 and the nomination files submitted by the respective States Parties,
4. Expresses its appreciation for the work of the Subsidiary Body and thanks its Members;
5. Expresses its satisfaction with the broad and geographically representative participation of States Parties during the 2013 cycle;
6. Appreciates the submission of multinational nominations, while noting the challenges of devising suitable coordination mechanisms amongst participating countries, and encourages States Parties that have led such efforts to find ways of sharing their experiences with others;
7. Congratulates the States Parties concerned for their continued effort in pursuing the essential purpose of the Representative List by proposing elements that could enrich awareness of the significance of intangible cultural heritage and the multiformity of its expressions, and encourage dialogue which respects cultural diversity;
8. Commends States Parties for increasingly addressing the gender aspects of intangible cultural heritage and the links between tangible and intangible cultural heritage as well as the role that intangible cultural heritage can play in sustainable development, and invites them to continue to pay attention to these issues when elaborating nominations;
9. Emphasizes that its decision not to inscribe an element at this time in no way constitutes a judgement on the merits of the element itself, but refers only to the adequacy of the information presented in the nomination file;
10. Strongly encourages States Parties elaborating nominations to consult good examples of nominations available on the webpage of the 2003 Convention in order to learn from the experiences of other States Parties and thereby improve the quality of nominations submitted;
11. Reminds States Parties that mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals is a fundamental principle of the 2003 Convention and that inscriptions on the Representative List should encourage dialogue which respects cultural diversity, and requests them to take particular care in their nominations to avoid characterizing the practices and actions within other States or including expressions that might inadvertently diminish such respect or impede such dialogue;
12. Takes note of the importance of continuing to reflect on the right scale or scope of an element and encourages submitting States to provide clear explanations to demonstrate that the proposed elements correspond to the definition of intangible cultural heritage;
13. Decides that criterion R.2 will only be considered to be satisfied if the nomination demonstrates how the possible inscription will contribute to ensuring visibility and awareness of the significance of the intangible cultural heritage in general, and not only of the inscribed element itself, and to encouraging dialogue which respects cultural diversity;
14. Takes further note of the need to monitor and assess the consequences, both intended and unintended, of an element’s inscription on the Representative List and invites States Parties to take full advantage of their periodic reports to provide updated, detailed information about safeguarding measures and their impacts;
15. Reaffirms that the communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals concerned are essential participants at all stages of the identification and inventorying of intangible cultural heritage, the preparation and submission of nominations, the promotion of visibility of intangible cultural heritage and awareness of its significance, as well as the implementation of safeguarding measures, and calls upon submitting States to demonstrate their participation in the nomination process through ample and convincing evidence;
16. Recalls that the Committee has always welcomed a wide range of evidence to demonstrate the free, prior and informed consent of communities and encourages States Parties to effectively use audiovisual materials to demonstrate such consent and to adopt the form or forms of attestation most suited to the situation of the communities concerned;
17. Reiterates that nominations will only be considered complete if documentary evidence is provided demonstrating that the nominated element is included in an inventory of the intangible cultural heritage present in the territory(ies) of the submitting State(s) Party(ies), as defined in Articles 11 and 12 of the Convention (Decision 7.COM 11) and further decides that such documentation shall include a relevant extract of the inventory(ies) in English or in French, as well as in the original language if different;
18. Recalls the importance of using appropriate vocabulary in line with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage;
19. Requests the Secretariat to compile an aide memoire containing all lessons learnt, observations and recommendations formulated by the Subsidiary Body, the Consultative Body and the Committee through the years, with an aim to assisting States Parties in elaborating complete files; further requests the Secretariat to publish the aide memoire on the website of the Convention, as well as attach it as an annex to the relevant form, in order to draw States Parties’ particular attention to it;
20. Requests the Secretariat, in the interests of consistency, to make an evaluation of the implementation of previous decisions of the Committee in connection with the inscription of elements on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, selection of proposals to the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices, and granting of requests for International Assistance.