International exhibition

An International Exhibition is, according to the BIE regulations, an exhibition in which more than one State takes part in. More generally, it is an exposition that involves international participants.

"An exhibition is international when more than one State takes part in it." Nevertheless International Exhibition is the common way to refer to the smaller version of the Expos defined by the BIE. The adjective specialized is frequently used jointly or in substitution of international; "Recognized exhibition" is an additional way (introduced in the 1988 Protocol) to call such an event.

1988 BIE Protocol
Recognized Exhibitions is the official name of the "smaller" expo, according to the last BIE Protocol (1988). It also defines the following characteristics for these kind of events:
 * they have to last minimum 3 weeks and maximum 3 months
 * they must treat a specific topic
 * their area must not exceed 25 hectares
 * the organizers must provide participant Countries with premises, with spaces not exceeding 1.000 m2 per Country
 * they have to be organized between two Registered Exhibitions

In short they are global events dedicated to finding solutions to specific challenges of humanity; their aims are the same as World Expos but in a smaller scale.

1972 BIE Protocol
The 1972 BIE Protocol names the "smaller" expos Specialized Exhibitions. They were classified separately from Universal ones because of their focusing on specific topics; a list of human endeavors that could be treated by specialized expos had to be kept up-to-date by the Executive Committee of the BIE.

"An exhibition is specialised when it is devoted to a single branch of human endeavour as defined in the classification."

Specialized Exhibitions had to last minimum 3 weeks, maximum 6 months. The organizers had to build pavilions and grant use to the participants.

List of International Exhibitions
The following list groups past Expos held under the name '' International Expo" or "International Specialized Expo".

From 1936 to 1975 they were organized under the regulations of 1933 Protocol; from 1981 to 2005 the 1972 Protocol was the reference document for their organization; the 1988 Protocol is applied since 1992.