On 20 October 2005, the UNESCO General Conference, meeting in Paris at its 33rd session (3–21 October), adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. The text is authentic in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The depositary is UNESCO.

One hundred and forty-eight states voted in favour; the United States and Israel voted against; five abstained. The convention answers the liberalisation of trade in cultural goods, after the failure of the “cultural exception” in GATS and after the UNESCO declaration of 2 November 2001, which was not binding. The director-general was Koïchiro Matsuura.

Article 1 calls for the protection of the diversity of cultural expressions and recognises the dual, economic and cultural, nature of goods and services. Article 2 sets eight principles, including human rights, sovereignty and the equal dignity of cultures. Article 5 reaffirms the sovereign right of states to legislate. Article 6 lists quotas, subsidies and support for domestic cultural industries.

Article 18 establishes the International Fund for Cultural Diversity, aimed especially at developing countries. Article 20 speaks of mutual supportiveness, complementarity and non-subordination to other treaties: the convention does not modify rights and obligations under other agreements. There is no enforcing body; disputes remain with the parties.

Article 29 provides for entry into force three months after the thirtieth instrument of ratification. The date was 18 March 2007, for states that had deposited by 18 December 2006. The European Union is a party. The Conference of Parties meets every two years; the Intergovernmental Committee has 18 members.

The convention is the first international treaty to give cultural goods a special status, not mere merchandise. It completes the UNESCO series: copyright (1952), The Hague (1954), world heritage (1972), underwater heritage (2001) and intangible heritage (2003).

The UNESCO Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs keeps the text adopted in Paris. UNESDOC publishes the same instrument: Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CLT-2005/CONVENTION DIVERSITE-CULT REV).

Image: Michel Claude, Room I of UNESCO House, Paris, before the General Conference, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Treaty text: Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (Paris, 20 October 2005).