The Bill (Reg.No.1459) seeks to regulate the legal, organisational, social and economic relations appertaining to the protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage sites included, or nominated for inclusion, in the UNESCO World Heritage List, for the purpose of their preservation and use in public life for the benefit of current and future generations.
According to the Bill, the following shall be considered as 'a Cultural Heritage Site included, or nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List':
monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;
groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value
from the point of view of history, art or science;
sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from an historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological viewpoint.
The Sponsors of this Bill, the People's Deputies, V. Horbal and A. Shkil, note that under The UNESCO Convention, concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted in 1972, and joined by Ukraine in 1988, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List are the following Ukrainian sites: 'St Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra' (insribed in 1988), the Ensemble of the Historic Centre of Lviv ( inscribed in 1998) and Struve Geodetic Arc (July 2005).
At the same time, the People's Deputies emphasize, today we come across violations in the course of preservation of landmarks of World significance in the historical centre of Lviv. Hence, the Sponsors point out, this is not a Local, but an International political issue, since it is related to the commitments given to the International Community not by Lviv, but by the State. Consequently, Ukraine fails to fulfill its commitments taken in accordance with The UNESCO Convention, concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and it also violates the Law, 'On International Agreements of Ukraine', as regards fulfillment by Ukraine of the International agreements it has entered into.
The People's Deputies consider that such actions or further inactivity could result in the exclusion of the Historic Centre of Lviv, and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, from the UNESCO World Heritage List, which primarily will affect the image of Ukraine in the world, since it will be treated as a nation unable to protect and preserve its unique cultural heritage.
The Sponsors believe that the passing of this Bill will enable the State to regulate the matters of preservation of cultural and natural heritage sites, included, or nominated for inclusion, in the UNESCO World Heritage List.