Valletta Treaty

Malta Convention or Valetta Treaty

Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological heritage of Europe
Signed	16 January 1992
Location	Valetta
Effective	25 May 1995
Condition	4 ratifications
Parties	41
Depositary	Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Language	English and French

The Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological heritage of Europe, usually referred to as the Valletta Treaty or Malta Convention, is an initiative from the Council of Europe. The treaty from 1992, aims to protect the European archaeological heritage "as a source of European collective memory and as an instrument for historical and scientific study. All remains and objects and any other traces of humankind from past times are considered elements of the archaeological heritage. The notion of archaeological heritage includes structures, constructions, groups of buildings, developed sites, moveable objects, monuments of other kinds as well as their context, whether situated on land or under water."

Its main effect is that project developers have to make sure they don't destroy anything of archaeological value when they build something. Hence, since it was signed in 1992, archaeology has become part of construction work in many areas in Europe.

External links

• An English copy of the Valletta Treaty, Council of Europe web site, retrieved October 25, 2006
• The conflict between In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation due to the Valletta Treaty, exemplified in the Netherlands, Sweden and England