To ensure the efficient implementation of the World Heritage Convention, it is essential that all the actors involved have access to up-to-date knowledge on the application of the Convention and on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties.

Discussions on the most appropriate means to establish this up-to-date information were initiated in 1982 and continued since then at the sessions of the World Heritage Committee, the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention and the General Conference of UNESCO.

A consensus was reached in 1997 that States Parties would provide, in accordance with Article 29 of the Convention , periodic reports on the application of the Convention and the state of conservation of World Heritage properties.

The World Heritage Committee, at its twenty-second session held in December 1998, adopted a number of decisions with regard to the submission of periodic reports. The Committee agreed on the periodicity of the reporting, the contents of the reports and the manner in which it will handle the States Parties reports. At the same time the Committee adopted the format for the periodic reporting as well as substantive explanatory notes.