The World Heritage Committee meets once a year, and consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention elected by their General Assembly. At its first session, the Committee adopted its Rules of Procedure of the World Heritage Committee.

The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties. It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Committee can also defer its decision and request further information on properties from the States Parties. It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed. It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Bureau consists of seven States Parties elected annually by the Committee: a Chairperson, five Vice-Chairpersons, and a Rapporteur. The Bureau of the Committee coordinates the work of the Committee and fixes the dates, hours and order of business of meetings. The election of the new Bureau will take place at the end of the next of the World Heritage Committee.

According to the World Heritage Convention, a Committee member's term of office is for six years, but most States Parties choose voluntarily to be Members of the Committee for only four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to be on the Committee.  All Members elected at the 15th General Assembly (2005) have voluntarily decided to reduce their period of term of office from six to four years.