I. Introduction; II. Policy context and policy options; III. History of Intellectual Property and the Protection of traditional cultural expressions; IV. What are "traditional cultural expressions"?; V.Traditional cultural expressions as economic and cultural assets; VI. Examples of appropriation and misappropriation; VII. Legal analysis of the protection of traditional cultural expressions by conventional intellectual property rights and sui generis measures and systems; VIII. The model provision for national laws, 1982; IX. Regional and international protection; X. Cultural heritage collections, databases and registers; XI. Acquisition, Management and enforcement of righst; XII. Conclusions; Annex. Background Paper no.1.