Receiving in domestic law concepts born by the 2003 Convention: focus on the notion of community

The crucial issue of the notion of communities in relation to intangible cultural heritage is analysed in this chapter. It first provides a general overview of the origins of this notion of community in international law to explain how it penetrated the cultural heritage field. This is an opportunity to underline the tensions between the ideal-type of this notion, seeking a true normative density, and the reality of its implementation in cultural heritage national legislation that still adopts a weak recognition. This discrepancy in underlined notably with the example of Indigenous communities or minorities, whose community rights predated the 2003 Convention and have not expanded since its implementation. This chapter observes how the rights of communities are part of the 2003 Convention discourse, while their legal roots in national legislations transcend this domain. © The Editors and Contributors Severally 2020. All rights reserved.