An extraordinary session of the International Jury for the proclamation by UNESCO of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was held in Elche (Spain) on 21-23 September 2001.
The purpose of this meeting, which followed the inaugural Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (Paris, 15-18 May 2001) and the International Round Table on “Intangible Cultural Heritage-Wm-king definitions” (Turin,
14-17 March 2001), was (i) to clarify the definition of intangible cultural heritage stipulated in the 1989 Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore and used for the first Proclamation ; and to harmonize it with the one proposed by the Turin expert meeting ; (ii) to define detailed selection criteria in view of the Second Proclamation procedure ; (iii) to address recommendations for the files which were not retained in May 2001 for the first Proclamation; (iv) to improve the procedures of the jury meetings.