The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is a binding international legal instrument, adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 20 October 2005. "The Convention recognizes the rights of Parties to take measures to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions, and impose obligations at both domestic and international levels on Parties." The document is available in six authoritative texts: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. As of January 2020, the Convention has 149 parties (148 states and European Union)

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The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity was adopted on 2 November 2001 by the thirty-first General Conference of the UNESCO. This document is constituted by 12 Articles, states that "As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for the nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations."

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Cultural exception is a political concept introduced by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in 1993, to treat culture differently from other commercial products. In other words, its purpose is to consider cultural goods and services as exceptions in international treaties and agreements especially with the Word Trade Organization. Concretely, it can be seen through protectionist measures such as quotas or through subsidies distributed according to the country's cultural policy.

Some of the goals are “to promote and protect the cultural diversity that is the origin and fundament of Iberoamerican culture, likewise the multiplicity of identities, languages and traditions that make up and enrich the territory” and “to affirm the central value of culture as the indispensable basis for the comprehensive development of the human being and for the defeat of poverty and inequality”

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