UNESCO

Norway has ratified several of UNESCO’s cultural conventions. Some of the key conventions are mentioned below.

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)

• 2005 Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions | Diversity of Cultural Expressions (unesco.org)

Norway ratified the Convention in 2006.

• Norway’s First Quadrennial Period Report on Measures to Protect and Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2012) (.pdf)
• Norway's Second Quadrennial Period Report on Measures to protect and Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2016) (.pdf)
• Norway's Third Quadrennial Period Report on Measures to Protect and Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2020) (.pdf)
• Norway's Fourth Quadrennial Period Report on Measures to Protect and Promote the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2024) (.pdf)

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) 

Norway ratified the Convention in 2006. The Storting (the Norwegian Parliament) has decided that Norway shall focus on the intangible cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and national minorities in the implementation of the Convention. Arts Council Norway has been tasked with the practical implementation of the Convention.

• Norway’s first Period Report on the Implementation of the Convention (2014) (.pdf)
• Norway's second Period Report on the Implementation of the Convention (2021) (.pdf)

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preenting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970)

Norway ratified the Convention in 2007. This Convention should be seen in close relation to the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995), which was ratified by Norway in 2001. Several government agencies cooperate on the implementation of the 1970 convention, i.a. Arts Council Norway, the Norwegian Directorate of Cultural Heritage, the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (ØKOKRIM) and the Norwegian Customs.

• Norway’s first Period Report on the Application of the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (2011) (.pdf) 
• Norway's second periodical report on the Application of the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. October 2015 (.pdf).

The Memory of the World Programme

Norway has six documents registered on the international Memory of the World register, as well as a national register. Arts Council Norway is the secretariat of the Norwegian Memory of the World Committee.

• Norwegian documents on the international Memory of the World register
• The Norwegian national Memory of the World Register (in Norwegian only)