In 2003, UNESCO adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, with the aim of protecting, preserving, and promoting intangible cultural heritage worldwide. The Convention entered into force in 2006 and represents a key international instrument for safeguarding living heritage that communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of their cultural identity.

According to the Convention, intangible heritage includes: customs, beliefs, manifestations of spiritual creativity transmitted orally, expressed through language, dialects, speech, and toponymy, as well as oral traditions or performance expressions, skills, knowledge, craftsmanship, and instruments, objects, handicrafts, and cultural spaces associated with them, which communities, groups, or individuals accept as part of their cultural identity.

The Convention places special emphasis on the role of local communities, groups, and individuals as bearers and transmitters of tradition, and on their active participation in identifying, documenting, and safeguarding elements of intangible heritage.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports maintains the Preliminary Open List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is part of the Preliminary Open List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports regularly updates the Preliminary List and registers new traditional elements based on requests submitted by local communities, citizens’ associations, cultural and artistic societies, and other organizations and individuals who preserve certain elements of intangible cultural heritage.

Applicants are, as a rule, active bearers and transmitters of tradition who continuously work on preserving and promoting a particular element through organizing events, workshops, educational programmes, and other activities.

In accordance with its competences and the provisions of the Convention, the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports entered in the year 2026 two newtraditional elements, the eighteenth and nineteenth on the List – Hatma-dova at Karići and Bosnian Carpet.

The Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports will, in line with its competencies and the principles of the 2003 Convention, continue to improve the system of recording and safeguarding intangible heritage, develop cooperation with local communities and tradition bearers, provide professional support in the process of identifying and documenting elements, and regularly update and supplement the Preliminary List of Intangible Heritage of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.