The Malta Convention aims to improve possibilities for the protection of heritage in situ (where found). The convention, which was adopted by the European Council in 1992, concerns especially remnants of graves, dwellings and artifacts. This type of heritage is often discovered in the middle of construction projects, when it is too late to undertake any successful rescue operation. The Malta convention stimulates research into designated construction areas prior to the start of construction projects and the involvement of archeologists in early stages of these initiatives.

Malta convention in Curacao
In the Netherlands Antilles the Malta convention was adopted in 1998. Its main principles concern:

• The preservation of cultural heritage in situ (Article 4)
• Timely consideration with cultural heritage in spatial development to make sure that alternative solutions can be sought against minimal costs (Article 5)
• In cases where preservation of cultural heritage is made impossible by development plans, the developer will pay for the research costs (Article 6)
• Communication with the general public (Article 9)
• Knowledge exchange between experts (Article 12).
• Cultural-historical value map
• To meet the demands of the Malta convention, an Archeological policy document was drawn up. Accompanying this document, a cultural-historical value map was developed, showing all relevant cultural-historical sites on the island.

Cultural-historic program
In cases where designated development areas turn out to be located within cultural-historically significant areas featuring on the map, licensing authorities will make this known and refer to a cultural-historic program that must be followed. Measures according to this program can vary from investigatory research to excavations to the taking of botanical samples.