General remarks
1. Quality and complexity of nomination dossiers Generally speaking, ICOMOS notes that nominations are increasingly complex, sometimes to the detriment of the dossiers’ clarity and coherence.
Certain nominations would benefit if more time were taken in preparing the nomination, for example to complete the legal protection process, finalise a management plan or undertake additional research.
ICOMOS hopes that the publication of the Resource Manual for the Preparation of Nominations, of which an electronic version is now available on its website, and on the World Heritage Centre website, will help the State Parties to improve the quality of nomination dossiers.
In most cases, the weakest parts of the nomination dossiers are the comparative analysis, integrity and/or monitoring.
When evaluating the comparative analysis included in nomination dossiers, ICOMOS examines the methodology used by the State Party and the relevance of the examples given by using the following parameters. Comparisons should be drawn with properties expressing the same values as the nominated property and within a defined geo-cultural area. Therefore the values need to be clearly defined and the geo-cultural framework should be determined according to these values. Comparisons should be drawn with similar properties already inscribed on the World Heritage List and with other examples at national and international level within the defined geocultural area.
