Procedures

Cultural and natural sites

The implementation methods, as regards the sites inscribed on the World Heritage List provided for by the 1972 Convention, are defined by the Secretary General’s Circular no. 24 of 28 May 2019.

It first identifies the subjects to whom the support measures are addressed. The management of the Italian UNESCO sites is the responsibility of the various subjects who, within the sphere of specific institutional competences, are responsible for the activities of protection, conservation and enhancement or who are referring subjects for actions related to knowledge, awareness, and economic promotion. Among these subjects, the Circular identifies the possible “beneficiaries” of the funding and the “Referring Persons” of the Sites, designated by a formal Memorandum of Understanding, who are entrusted with the task of submitting the applications for funding and the reports relating to the implementation of the Projects funded.

Elements of the intangible cultural heritage

The implementation methods, as regards the elements inscribed on the representative List of intangible cultural heritage provided for by the 2003 Convention, are also defined by the Secretary General’s Circular no. 24/2019.

The Circular establishes that they can benefit from funding from the appropriations provided for by art. 4 of the law “the bodies/institutions responsible for – or involved in – the protection of the elements of the Intangible Heritage inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List and in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”.

Among the subjects involved in various capacities in the safeguarding of the Elements, the Circular identifies the possible “beneficiaries” of the support measures and the “Referring subjects”, designated by a formal Memorandum of Understanding, defining their requirements and competences.

The procedure for assigning funding, outlined by the law and the implementing circular, can be summarised as follows:

  • publication of the Notice(s) for the submission of the proposals for intervention, for each Financial Year of reference, on the MiBAC website;
  • submission of requests by UNESCO Sites and Elements, according to the methods set out in the Notice(s);
  • evaluation of the requests submitted by the Sites and the Elements through the “Referring Person”, carried out by a special inter-institutional Commission which proposes the ranking of the interventions to be funded to the Minister;
  • issuance of the Decree of the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism for the allocation of funding, in agreement with the Minister of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea, with the Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and with the permanent Conference for relations between the state, the regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano;
  • registration of the Decree by the Court of Auditors and subsequent communication to the “Referring Persons” of the Sites and Elements.
Submission of applications to be funded

On the basis of the provisions of the Implementing Circular, two separate Notices are issued each year for the submissions of the intervention proposals to be funded pursuant to Law 77/2006, one for the UNESCO Sites and one for the Elements.
Each Notice, also published on the home page of the website of the Ministry of cultural heritage and activities and tourism, with reference to the types of intervention required by law and to the criteria defined by the implementing circular, indicates the methods and terms for the submission of the requests by the “Referring persons”, the evaluation criteria of the projects and any reasons for exclusion, as well as the methods for payment of the funding.

Procedures for reporting and paying funding

The payment of funding is subject to reporting. The reporting methods are described in detail in the “Reporting Guidelines”.
Within 45 days from the communication of the registration of the funding award decree by the Court of Auditors, the beneficiary UNESCO sites and elements must transmit, through the “referring person”, the first report on the state of implementation of the funded intervention; to this must be attached the detailed Operational Plan, which identifies the phases of the project, describing the individual activities envisaged with relative time scales. The Operational Plan must also contain the financial plan broken down by actions and activities. The first reporting must include: the assessment in the financial statements of the amount assigned and the expected co-funding, as well as the declaration of the start of the activity.
Once the technical and administrative completeness of the first report has been verified, the first advance payment is made, equal to 30% of the total amount of the funding granted.
The residual part of the funding is paid by progress, on the basis of the subsequent reports presented.
At the bottom of the forms updated to 2019.