Conservation:
All actions aimed at the safeguarding of cultural property for the future. The purpose of conservation is to study, record, retain and restore the culturally significant qualities of the cultural property as embodied in its physical and chemical nature, with the least possible intervention. Conservation includes the following: examination, documentation, preventive conservation, preservation, treatment, restoration and reconstruction.

Cultural Property:
Objects that are judged by society, or by some of its members, to be of historical, artistic, social or scientific importance. Cultural property can be classified into two major categories:
1. Movable objects such as works of art, artifacts, books, archival material and other objects of natural, historical or archaeological origin.
2. Immovable objects such as monuments, architecture, archaeological sites and structures of historical or artistic interest.

Documentation:
All of the records, written and pictorial, accumulated during the examination and treatment of a cultural property. Where applicable, documentation includes the examination records and report, treatment proposal, owner consent, the treatment records and report, the recommendations for subsequent care, samples taken from the cultural property and relevant correspondence. The purpose of documentation is:

to record the condition of the cultural property;
to record information revealed during examination or other conservation activities that assists in the understanding of the cultural property;
to record the changes to the property due to conservation activities, and the justification for those changes;
to provide information helpful to future care and treatment of the cultural property;
to record agreements or understandings between the conservation professional and the owner; and
to provide documents that can be made available if and when required for legal purposes.

Examination:
All activities carried out to determine the structure, materials, relevant history and condition of a cultural property, including the extent of deterioration, alteration and loss. Examination also includes analyses and study of relevant material, as well as the study of relevant historical and contemporary information.

Originator:
1. The person(s) who designed or created the cultural property, or
2. The person(s) representing the creator or designer of the cultural property by legal, moral or spiritual right.

Owner:
1. The person(s) having legal ownership of the cultural property, or his/her authorized agent, or
2. The person(s), such as the museum director, curator, archivist or librarian, exercising professional custodianship over a cultural property.

Preservation:
All actions taken to retard deterioration of, or to prevent damage to, cultural property. Preservation involves management of the environment and of the conditions of use, and may include treatment in order to maintain a cultural property, as nearly as possible, in a stable physical condition. With respect to material valued exclusively for its information content, for example some archival material, preservation may include reformatting.

Preventive Conservation:
All actions taken to mitigate deterioration and damage to cultural property. This is achieved through the formulation and implementation of policies and procedures in areas such as lighting, environmental conditions, air quality, integrated pest management; handling, packing and transport, exhibition, storage, maintenance, use, security; fire protection, and emergency preparedness and response.

Reconstruction:
All actions taken to re-create, in whole or in part, a cultural property, based upon historical, literary, graphic, pictorial, archaeological and scientific evidence. Reconstruction is aimed at promoting an understanding of a cultural property, and is based on little or no original material but clear evidence of a former state.

Reformatting:
All actions taken to transfer onto another medium, the information contained within a cultural property valued exclusively for its information content (for example, archival electronic media).

Restoration:
All actions taken to modify the existing materials and structure of a cultural property to represent a known earlier state. The aim of restoration is to reveal the culturally significant qualities of a cultural property. Restoration is based on respect for the remaining original material and clear evidence of the earlier state.

Treatment:
All direct interventions carried out on the cultural property with the aim of retarding further deterioration or aiding in the interpretation of the cultural property. A treatment may range from minimal stabilization to extensive restoration or reconstruction.