The ICOM Red Lists are tools designed to help police and customs officials, heritage professionals, and art and antiquities dealers to identify the types of objects that are most susceptible to illicit trafficking.

They help individuals, organisations and authorities, such as police or customs officials, identify objects at risk and prevent them from being illegally sold or exported.

[10] ICOM publishes the Red Lists with the scientific collaboration of national and international experts and the support of dedicated sponsors, to cover the most vulnerable areas of the world in terms of illicit trafficking of cultural objects.

Among other successes, these tools have contributed to the identification, recovery and restitution of thousands of cultural objects from Iraq, Afghanistan and Mali.

[10] ICOM is committed to providing cultural institutions with the necessary support and risk prevention tools when faced with conflict situations or natural disasters.

The Getty Conservation Institute and ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) took part in this programme and helped develop training tools for MEP.

[citation needed] Every year since 1977, ICOM has organised International Museum Day, a worldwide event held around 18 May.

This 22nd General Conference in Shanghai followed the World Expo where the ICOM's Pavilion was inaugurated and named "Museums, Heart of the City".

[22] The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM), formalised as the official international standard ISO 21127, is used to map cultural heritage information to a common and extensible semantic framework.