The UNESCO World Heritage List was established through the 1972 World Heritage Convention - a convention which Malta ratified in 1978. Eventually, in 1992, the inscription of the Ġgantija Temples was extended to include the Megalithic Temples of Malta, the government said. The first application has now been submitted to the World Heritage Centre before the final application is submitted on 1 February 2026. From there, the application will undergo scrutiny and evaluation by the international consultants of the World Heritage Centre, before being presented for a vote by the World Heritage Committee, which is composed of 21 member states of the 1972 Convention. "The World Heritage List includes within it sites that have values considered extraordinary and of universal scope, making them important not only for the country or the local communities but for humanity as a whole.