Oversight and strategic guidance are provided by the National Council of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a collegial decision-making body chaired by the Minister of Culture.62 Its functions include approving new entries to the national register, formulating national strategies for the protection of ICH, and advising on educational and digitisation initiatives. The Council is also responsible for submitting nominations for the inclusion of Albanian expressions in UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a process governed by Article 17 of the Cultural Heritage Act.63 This provision entrusts the Ministry of Culture with the coordination of international recognition efforts, subject to the Council’s prior approval and the criteria set out in the 2003 UNESCO Convention. The Cultural Heritage Act also recognises the essential role of education in sustaining intangible heritage. Article 105 outlines a comprehensive programme of formal and informal educational measures aimed at ensuring the intergenerational transmission of ICH. These include the development of school curricula, youth-targeted awareness campaigns, and community-based educational projects. All such initiatives are implemented jointly by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and are formalised through secondary legislation.64 Finally, the law provides a detailed typology of ICH domains eligible for protection, ranging from oral folklore and ritual practices to traditional craftsmanship and culinary knowledge. Within this typology, gastronomy is explicitly recognised as a field of intangible heritage, affirming its legal status and justifying its inclusion in both national and international preservation frameworks.65 Taken as a whole, the Albanian legal system has created a structured and detailed framework for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, integrating legal definitions, institutional mandates, registration mechanisms, and participatory and educational processes. This legal infrastructure situates gastronomy not as a marginal or decorative cultural expression, but as a central domain of identity and continuity, fully deserving of regulatory attention and safeguarding interventions. The recognition, regulation and registration of gastronomy as a 62 Art 39 of Law no 27/2018 OG 86/2018. 63 OG 86/2018. 64 Art 105 of Law no 27/2018 OG 86/2018. 65 Art 55 (ç) of Law no 27/2018 OG 86/2018 provides for “traditional know-how concerning craftsmanship and culinary practices” as types of intangible cultural values which are subject to the protection of the legal provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act. 482 NADA DOLLANI
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