ICOMOS Statutes
Adopted by the Vth General Assembly on 22 May 1978 (Moscow)I

Name and Headquarters

§1-2

4

II

Definitions

§3

4

III

Aims and Activities

§4-5

5-6

IV

Members

§6-7

6

V

Administrative Structure

§8

8

-

General Assembly

§9

8

-

Executive Committee and Bureau§ 10 - 11

9-

Advisory Committee

§ 12

11

-

National Committees

§ 13

12

-

International Committees

§ 14

13

-

Secretariat

§ 15

13

-

Observers

§ 16

13

-

Finances

§ 17

13

VI

Legal Status

§ 18

14

VII

Amendments

§ 19

14

VIII

Dissolution

§ 20

14

IX

Languages

§ 21

14

X

Entry into force

§ 2)

14

I

Name and Headquarters
Article 1
An association is hereby established under the name of the International Council on Monuments And Sites,
hereinafter designated by the initials ICOMOS.
Article 2
The location of the headquarters of ICOMOS is at Paris. It may be changed by a decision of the General
Assembly.

II

Definitions
Article 3a
The term "monument" shall include all structures (together with their settings and pertinent fixtures andcontents) which are of value from the historical, artistic, architectural, scientific or ethnological point ofview. This definition shall include works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures ofan archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and all combinations of such features.

IIIb

The term "group of buildings" shall include all groups of separate or connected buildings and theirsurroundings, whether urban or rural, which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or theirplace in the landscape, are of value from the historical, artistic, scientific, social or ethnological point of
view.

c

The term "site" shall include all topographical areas and landscapes, the works of man or the combined
works of nature and of man, including historic parks and gardens, which are of value from thearchaeological, historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.

d

The terms "monument", "site", and "group of buildings" shall not include:- museum collections housed in monuments,- archaeological collections preserved in museums or exhibited at archaeological or historic site
museums,- open-air museums.

Aims and Activities
Article 4
ICOMOS shall be the international organisation concerned with furthering the conservation, protection,
rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, on the international level
Article 5
ICOMOS shall:aProvide a mechanism for linking public authorities, institutions and individuals concerned with theconservation of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, and ensure their representation withinternational organisations;bGather, study and disseminate information concerning principles, techniques and policies for theconservation, protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites;c

Co-operate at national and international levels in the creation and development of documentation centres
dealing with the conservation and protection of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, and with thestudy and practice of traditional building techniques;dEncourage the adoption and implementation of international recommendations concerning monuments,groups of buildings and sites;e

Co-operate in the preparation of training programmes for specialists in the conservation, protection andenhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites;f

Establish and maintain close co-operation with UNESCO, the International Centre for the Study of the
Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Rome, regional conservation centres sponsored by
UNESCO, and other international or regional institutions and organisations pursuing similar goals; andgEncourage and instigate other activities consistent with these statutes.

IV

Members
Article 6a
ICOMOS shall be composed of four categories of members: Individual Members, Institutional Members,
Sustaining Members and Honorary Members.

b

1

Individual Membership shall be open to any individual engaged in the conservation of monuments,groups of buildings and sites (as defined in Section II, article 3) as a member of the scientific,
technical or administrative staff of national, regional or local monuments, fine arts or antiquities
services, a decision-maker or a specialist engaged in the conservation, restoration, rehabilitationand enhancement of monuments, groups of buildings and sites, including, as appropriate,architects, town planners, historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, and archivists. Individual
membership may be accorded in exceptional cases to other individuals interested in supporting
the aims and objectives of ICOMOS. Only individual members shall be eligible for office within
ICOMOS, in accordance with Article 10.

2

Institutional Membership shall be open to any institution of whatever nature concerned with theconservation, protection, restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement or animation of historicalmonuments, groups of buildings and sites (as defined in Article 3), institutions which own or havein their charge historical monuments, groups of buildings and sites and institutions which devote
all or part of their activity to one or more of the objectives listed above in relation to monuments,groups of buildings or sites.

3

Sustaining Membership shall be open to any individual or institution wishing to support the aims
and activities of ICOMOS or to contribute to international co-operation in the field of theconservation of the cultural heritage.

4

Honorary Membership shall be conferred by the General Assembly, at the proposal of a National
Committee, upon individuals who have rendered distinguished services in the field of theconservation, restoration and enhancement of historical monuments, sites and groups ofbuildings.

ICOMOS members in each country shall be formed into National Committees, as defined in Article 13.
Applications for ICOMOS membership shall be forwarded to the National Committee, where such
Committee exists.
All members of ICOMOS National Committees shall have the right to attend and participate in the
General Assembly of ICOMOS. However, no National Committee shall ever have more than 18 votes at
the General Assembly. Any voting member duly named in accordance with Article 13 (f) may give a proxy
to another member of his National Committee; however no member shall be entitled to have more than 5
votes in addition to his own.

c

In countries where no National Committee exists, membership applications shall be sent to the ICOMOS
Secretariat, for approval by the Bureau of ICOMOS. ICOMOS members in such countries shall enjoy thesame rights as members of National Committees, except that they shall not have the right to vote at theGeneral Assembly.

dSustaining and Honorary Members shall have the right to attend and participate in the General Assembly,
without the right to vote.

e

Individual, Institutional and Sustaining Members of ICOMOS shall pay, on or before May 1st of each year,
such dues or subscriptions as shall be set by the Executive Committee of ICOMOS for that year, for theirrespective categories. Any change in the amount of the dues shall be ratified by the General Assembly of
ICOMOS.
In exchange for the payment of his dues, each Member shall receive an ICOMOS membership card,
ICOMOS periodical publications and such other advantages as the Executive Committee shall from time
to time decide. He shall have the right to attend the General Assembly and to consult the ICOMOS
Documentation Centre. Honorary Members shall not be subject to dues.

Article 7
A member of ICOMOS shall cease to be a member:aif he should resign at the end of a calendar year after having given his National Committee written noticeto that effect three months in advance, and after having paid his due for the current year.
b

If he should be formally struck off the register by the General Assembly or Executive Committee for nonpayment of dues or for any other cause.

V

Administrative Structure
Article 8a
The administrative organisation of ICOMOS shall consist of the:- General Assembly- Executive Committee and Bureau- Advisory Committee and Bureau- National Committees- Specialised International Committees- SecretariatbEach of these bodies shall adopt its own rules of procedure with regard to its mode of operation, including
the election of its officers, according to the ICOMOS statutes.

Article 9
The General Assembly shall be the sovereign body of ICOMOS. It shall constitute itself and elect its own
Chairman, 3 vice-chairmen and a Rapporteur, whose mandates shall be for the duration of the session. It shalladopt its own rules of procedure.
It shall elect the President of ICOMOS, 5 Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General, the Treasurer General and 12
members of the Executive Committee from among individual Members in good standing selected to ensure thatdifferent specialisations are represented. It shall determine the site of ICOMOS headquarters, adopt
amendments to the ICOMOS Statutes, establish ICOMOS programmes, approve the Secretary General's andTreasurer General's reports and the budgetary guidelines for the following period, and oversee the achievementof the aims of ICOMOS. It shall ratify changes in ICOMOS membership dues and shall confer Honorary
Membership on the proposal of an ICOMOS National Committee.
The General Assembly is open to all members of ICOMOS. It shall be convened every three years in ordinary
session on the date and at the place chosen by the Executive Committee or in extraordinary session at therequest of the majority of the Members of the Executive Committee or of one third of the members of ICOMOS.
The requisite quorum shall be one third of all voting members calculated in accordance with Article 6 (b). Should
this quorum not be reached, the General Assembly shall, 24 hours later, meet again at the same place; its
discussions shall then be valid, irrespective of the number of voting members present.
Article 10a
The Executive Committee is the executive body of ICOMOS. It shall be composed of 26 members as
follows:- the President of ICOMOS- 5 Vice-Presidents- the Chairman of the Advisory Committee- the Secretary General- the Treasurer General- 12 members elected by the General Assembly- 5 co-opted members.
All members of the Executive Committee shall be Individual Members of ICOMOS chosen with regard totheir professional standing. They shall be in active service. Part shall be elected by the General Assembly(see Article 9) and part co-opted by the Executive Committee. They shall represent in an equitablemanner the different regions of the world. No country shall be represented by more than one member
within the Executive Committee (with the exception of the country to which president belongs).
The President of ICOMOS or, in his absence, one of the Vice-presidents shall preside at the meetings.
The Director of the Secretariat shall be in attendance at all Executive Committee meetings in an advisory
capacity.
b

The Executive Committee shall be authorised to receive, borrow, hold and use, on behalf of ICOMOS, thefunds necessary for the achievement of the aims set forth in these statutes, as well as to accept gifts andbequests. It shall prepare draft programmes and budgets and shall supervise their implementation.
Between General Assemblies, the Executive Committee shall act on behalf of the General Assembly. The
Executive Committee shall approve the Treasurer General's Report and the annual Budget of ICOMOS. It
shall set the rate of membership dues.
It shall take note of the establishment of National Committees, approve their composition, ascertain that
their statutes are in conformity with those of ICOMOS and ratify changes in existing statutes of National
Committees. It shall approve the appointment of members of international committees in accordance with
Article 14.

cPast Presidents of ICOMOS shall remain as ex-officio non-voting members of the Executive Committee.

d

The members of the Executive Committee shall ordinarily be elected by the General Assembly by secretballot for a term of three years and shall be eligible to be re-elected for two further consecutive terms of
three years.
At each statutory election, or after a period of three years, one-third of the members of the Executive
Committee shall retire. A retiring Member may not be re-elected to the Executive Committee before theexpiration of a three-year term. The longest continuous term of service allowed as a member of the
Executive is nine years. This rule shall apply equally to the chairman of the Advisory Committee who isappointed by the Advisory Committee.
An exception to this rule shall be made in the case of a member of the Executive Committee who is
elected to the office of President, Secretary General or Treasurer General. Such a member shall not,however, remain in any one office for more than three consecutive periods of three years. His term ofservice shall in no case exceed a total of 18 consecutive years.
If the General Assembly does not meet before the term of the Executive Committee expires, a new
Committee shall be elected by a postal ballot of all voting members of ICOMOS, as defined in Article 6(b).
Should a seat fall vacant, the Executive Committee shall elect, for the balance of the term of office of theprevious occupant, a successor from among the individual members of ICOMOS.

eThe Executive Committee shall be convened by the President of ICOMOS in ordinary session at least
once a year and, at the request of one-third of the Committee members, in extraordinary session. During
years when the General Assembly meets, it shall meet before and after the meeting of the Assembly.
Decisions shall be taken by a majority vote of members present or their representatives.

f

The President, Vice-presidents, Secretary General and Treasurer General constitute the Bureau. The
bureau shall be convened by the President to meet between sessions of the Executive Committee andshall act on behalf of the latter. Its decisions shall be taken by simple majority.
The Executive Committee may appoint an Assistant Secretary General and an Assistant Treasurer
General from among its own members, and may call for expert advice as appropriate.

Article 11a
The President of ICOMOS shall convoke the General Assembly, convoke and preside over the Executive
Committee and the Bureau, and shall propose their agenda. He shall be an ex-officio member of theAdvisory Committee. He shall represent ICOMOS by proxy. With the approval of the Bureau, he maydelegate his signature for any purpose.
b

The Vice-Presidents shall assist or take the place of the President. They shall assist him in representing
ICOMOS and furthering its activities throughout the world. In this connection, the President may delegate
powers to them.

c

The Secretary General is charged with the direction and operations of the Secretariat in accordance withbroad policy guidelines set by the General Assembly and the Advisory Committee, and decisions of the
Executive Committee and the Bureau.

d

The Treasurer General is responsible for the financial affairs of ICOMOS. He shall prepare financial
reports and draft budgets for the period 1 January - 31 December of each year, authorise expenditureaccording to the instructions of the Bureau and make payments.

Article 12a
The Advisory Committee shall be composed of the Chairmen of the National Committees and the
Chairmen of the Specialised International Committees. The President of ICOMOS shall be ex-officio
member. The Advisory Committee shall be governed by its own rules of procedure. It shall elect its own
Chairman and it may also appoint one or more Vice Chairmen to assist or to take the place of thechairman. It shall be convened by its Chairman at least once a year on the date and at the place chosen
by the Executive Committee.

bc

The Advisory Committee shall advise and make recommendations to the General Assembly andExecutive Committee of ICOMOS on matters of policy and programme priorities. It shall examine
proposals made by National Committee and shall pass them, with its recommendations, to the Executive
Committee for implementation. It shall take note of the activities of National and International Committees
and shall recommend action as appropriate.
Within one year preceding any ordinary session of the General Assembly, the Advisory Committee shalldraw up a list of candidates for election to the Executive Committee including all nominations received
from National committees together with such further nominations as it shall itself propose. This list shallbe sent, not less than 120 days before the date of the General Assembly, to all Members of ICOMOS,
who may, in accordance with the rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, propose further
candidates.

Article 13a
ICOMOS National Committees may be organised in any country which is a member state of UNESCO, in
accordance with the relevant laws of that country. The number of Individual Members in a National
Committee is subject to the agreement of the ICOMOS Executive Committee at its next meeting, in
accordance with Article 9 (bbNational Committees shall comprise the members of ICOMOS within a country, as defined under Article
6, including individual Members, Institutional Members, Sustaining Members and Honorary Members.
National Committees shall receive and accept applications for membership, and shall inform the ICOMOS
Secretariat of the names of all new members so accepted.

cNational Committees shall adopt their own rules of procedure and shall establish and carry out national
programmes which are in accordance with the aims of ICOMOS.

dThey shall implement the decisions of the General Assembly and the programmes proposed by theAdvisory and Executive Committees of ICOMOS.

eGenerally, they shall serve as a forum for discussion and for the exchange of national and international
information on matters of principle and of technical, legal and administrative practice, affecting theconservation, restoration, rehabilitation and enhancement of monuments, sites and groups of buildings.

fNational Committees shall assign their own voting privileges at the General Assembly, within the
numerical limits laid down in Article 6 (b) and in accordance with their own statutes. A majority of thevoting members of any National Committee shall be Individual Members. The names of those members
entitled to vote at the General Assembly shall be communicated to the ICOMOS Secretariat not less than
one month before the General Assembly. Representatives of Institutional Members shall have been duly
designated by the relevant bodies.

g

The National Committee shall be convened at least once each year in ordinary session by the Chairman
to examine the annual report to be submitted to ICOMOS.

Article 14a
The International Committees are the technical organs of ICOMOS. They shall, in their respective fields,
carry out specialised studies on professional problems with which ICOMOS is concerned.
b

The Executive Committee may set up and dissolve Committees and appoint their first Chairmen. The
appointment of members of International Committees shall be ratified by the Executive Committee, on the
proposal of the Chairman of the Committee concerned.

c

The International Committees shall adopt their own rules of procedure and shall establish and carry out
their own programmes, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee (see Article 10 b), to which
they address an annual report. They may form working parties among themselves as sub-committees orcommissions.

Article 15
The Secretariat shall implement and co-ordinate the programme established by the General Assembly under the
direction of the Bureau. The Secretariat shall be responsible for the day to day operations of ICOMOS, under the
direction of the Secretary General and the Treasurer General, within the framework of decisions of the general
Assembly and the Executive Committee and in line with policy guidelines set down by the President. It shallproduce an annual report on its activities.
The Director of the Secretariat is appointed by the President on the proposal of the Bureau, subject to theprevious approval of the Executive Committee.

Article 16
UNESCO, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property andother international organisations as appropriate may be invited to send observers to all ICOMOS meetings.
Article 17
Income of ICOMOS shall derive from:- Subscriptions or dues of members- Gift and bequests- Subventions- Contracts for research and provision of services, in accordance with
Article 5- Other appropriate activities approved by the Bureau and ratified by the Executive Committee

VI

Legal Status
Article 18
The Executive Committee may take appropriate measures to acquire legal status for ICOMOS in the countries
where it exercises its activities.
ICOMOS shall be represented vis-à-vis third parties by the President, by one of its Vice-Presidents, or by the
Secretary General.

VII

Amendments
Article 19
The General Assembly alone shall be empowered to amend the present statutes, by a two-thirds majority of thevotes cast, and after the proposed amendments have been communicated to all members, at least four months
before the opening of the General Assembly.

VIII

Dissolution
Article 20
The decision to dissolve ICOMOS may be taken only by the General Assembly, by a two-third majority of thevotes cast. In the event of the dissolution of ICOMOS, its assets shall be transferred to an organisation
nominated by UNESCO.

IX

Languages
Article 21
English, French, Russian and Spanish are the official languages of ICOMOS. The working languages shall be
English and French.

X

Entry into Force
Article 22
These present Statutes are adopted by the Vth General Assembly of ICOMOS at Moscow on 22 May 1978.
They shall come into force immediately after the close of the General Assembly.