The Committee,

1. Recalling Article 16 of the Convention,
2. Further recalling Chapter I of the Operational Directives, particularly its paragraphs concerning inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,
3. Having examined Document ITH/12/7.COM/11 and the nomination files submitted by the respective States Parties,
4. Welcomes the broad participation of States Parties during the 2012 cycle and the increasingly balanced geographical representation among the nominations submitted for its examination;
5. Congratulates the State Parties concerned for their willingness to propose elements that could expand awareness worldwide of the diversity of intangible cultural heritage and its variform expressions, thereby contributing to the fundamental purposes of the Representative List;
6. Reaffirms that the communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals whose intangible cultural heritage is concerned are essential participants at all stages of the identification, the inventorying, the preparation, the elaboration and submission of nominations, in the promotion of visibility of intangible cultural heritage and awareness of its significance and in the implementation of safeguarding measures;
7. Emphasizes that it is the communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals who should be the primary beneficiaries of the inscription of an element on the Representative List and of the increased visibility and benefits that may arise;
8. Requests the Subsidiary Body to make a limited and coherent use of referral so that it is only applied to cases concerning the lack of technical detail;
9. Invites States Parties to consider the complementary purposes of the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and to ensure that nominations are submitted to the appropriate List and are framed consistently in terms of the specific list to which they are submitted;
10. Reminds States Parties that the requirement of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals is fundamental to the Convention and that inscriptions on the Representative List should encourage dialogue which respects cultural diversity;
11. Invites States Parties to refrain from using inappropriate vocabulary;
12. Further invites States Parties to take care when elaborating nominations to avoid characterizing the practices and actions within other States in order not to inadvertently diminish such respect or impede such dialogue;
13. Recalls its Decisions 6.COM 7 and 6.COM 13, according to which ‘each nomination should constitute a unique and original document’ and duplication of text from another nomination is not acceptable;
14. Underlines that criterion R.2 requires that the nomination demonstrate 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;
15. Further underlines that for criterion R.3 the safeguarding measures should be described in terms of concrete engagements of the States Parties and communities and not only in terms of possibilities and potentialities;
16. Further invites States Parties when elaborating nominations to take careful heed of the prior decisions of the Committee as well as the observations and suggestions offered by the 2012 Subsidiary Body and its predecessors and to endeavour to submit nominations of the highest quality, providing all of the information needed for the proper examination and evaluation of the files and for their future promotion;
17. Decides that information placed in inappropriate sections of the nomination cannot be taken into consideration, and invites States Parties to ensure that information is provided in its proper place;
18. Further decides that nominations that do not comply strictly with the following technical requirements will be considered incomplete and cannot consequently be transmitted by the Secretariat for evaluation and examination but will be returned to the submitting States that may complete them for a subsequent cycle, in conformity with paragraph 54 of the Operational Directives:
    1. A response is provided in each and every section;
    2. Maximum word counts established in the nomination form are respected;
    3. Evidence of free, prior and informed consent is provided in one of the working languages of the Committee (English or French), as well as the language of the community concerned if its members use languages other than English or French;
    4. 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; such evidence may take the form of a functioning hyperlink through which such an inventory may be accessed;
    5. An edited video of not more than ten minutes is provided, subtitled in one of the languages of the Committee (English or French) if the language utilized is other than English or French.