Bureau of International Expositions
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The Bureau of International Expositions (or Bureau International des Expositions) is the organization responsible for sanctioning World's fairs. It is based in Paris, France and was established as an international convention in 1928. However, many fairs take place unsanctioned, for example, the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair.
Potential host nations can apply to the BIE to hold a BIE-sanctioned Expo to celebrate some special event or to represent a concept or theme of their choosing. BIE currently has three expo classes: universal, international, and specialized. Historically other classification systems have been used.
From 1933 (when the treaty came in to effect) until 1976, there were two types of expos:
- Universal (or General) Exposition, including:
- General Exposition 1st category - at which each country had to build its own pavilion,
- General Exposition 2nd category - at which the pavilions were built by the expo.
- Specialized (or international) exposition, where the expo would build the buildings.
Unlike with universal expositions, there was no set time between specialized expositions. There have been some specialized expos in which countries have built their own pavilions (Liège 1939 was such an event). The Seattle Century 21 Exposition 1962 was a "universal" exposition (General Exposition 2nd category), in the same category as Paris 1937 and the 1939 New York World's Fair, and thus, according to the rules, countries should not have been allowed to build their own pavilions.
The second category phase came under the 1972 protocol - which was first used after Expo '75. Under that system there were just 2 types, Universal (the 1st and 2nd categories were combined) and International (or specialized). Under this system, each country could build its own pavilion at a universal expo, but buildings could be provided for poorer countries. At an international expo, the expo built the pavilions. Also, the theme at a universal expo was larger or more open. Only Expo '92 in Seville and Expo 2000 in Hanover have been held in this category.
The latest set of categories came with the 1988 protocol. There are two types - "registered" and "recognized". The registered expos are to be held every 5 years starting in 2010 (Expo 2005 was registered under the 1972 protocol, but decided to follow the new system anyway). It is up to each expo to decide if they will let each country build its own pavilion or not, but the BIE has let it be known that they wish that only the expos in the "10 years" (2010, 2020 etc...) have countries building their own pavilions and that for the expos in the "5s", the expo should build the buildings. In between these registered expos, there will be one recognized expo - which can be held for only 3 months and be no bigger than 25 hectares. Expo 2004, which was not held, would have been the first of this type. Both Genoa Expo '92 and Taejon Expo '93 were held as "test runs" for this type.
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