Procedure at International Conferences Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- List of abbreviations and conference references
- Introduction
- 1 Historical development of rules of procedure of conferences and attempts to establish model rules
- 2 Adoption of rules of procedure
- 3 Rules of procedure and international law
- 4 Invitations, participation and credentials
- 5 Presiding officer and other officers of the conference
- 6 Meetings
- 7 Statements by delegations
- 8 Submission of proposals
- 9 Adjournment and closure of debate
- 10 Amendments
- 11 Withdrawal and reconsideration of motions
- 12 Procedural motions and points of order
- 13 Priorities between different proposals
- 14 Decision taking and method of voting
- 15 Majority required
- 16 Consensus
- 17 Separate votes
- 18 Conduct of voting – interruption of voting and correction of vote
- 19 Languages, records and documents
- 20 Committees
- 21 Suspension and amendment of rules of procedure
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Meetings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- List of abbreviations and conference references
- Introduction
- 1 Historical development of rules of procedure of conferences and attempts to establish model rules
- 2 Adoption of rules of procedure
- 3 Rules of procedure and international law
- 4 Invitations, participation and credentials
- 5 Presiding officer and other officers of the conference
- 6 Meetings
- 7 Statements by delegations
- 8 Submission of proposals
- 9 Adjournment and closure of debate
- 10 Amendments
- 11 Withdrawal and reconsideration of motions
- 12 Procedural motions and points of order
- 13 Priorities between different proposals
- 14 Decision taking and method of voting
- 15 Majority required
- 16 Consensus
- 17 Separate votes
- 18 Conduct of voting – interruption of voting and correction of vote
- 19 Languages, records and documents
- 20 Committees
- 21 Suspension and amendment of rules of procedure
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Quorum
The UNGA rules of procedure, for the Plenary, state:
Rule 67
Quorum
The President may declare a meeting open and permit the debate to proceed when at least one third of the members of the General Assembly are present. The presence of a majority of the members shall be required for any decision to be taken.
Regarding meetings of UNGA committees, the rule is:
Rule 108
The Chairman may declare a meeting open and permit the debate to proceed when at least one quarter of the members of the committee are present. The presence of a majority of the members shall be required for any decision to be taken.
The UN Model Rules propose the following rule for the issue of a quorum:
Rule 33
Quorum
The President may declare a meeting open and permit the debate to proceed when representatives of at least one third of the States participating in the current session of the Conference are present. The presence of representatives of a majority of such States shall be required for any decision to be taken.
The distinction between the quorum necessary for debates and that necessary for voting was introduced in 1949 by the Special Committee on Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly. The proposal was adopted, despite the fact that during the debate on the report in the Sixth Committee, several delegations argued that the proposal was undesirable as it would enable delegations to vote without their having been present during the debate.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Procedure at International ConferencesA Study of the Rules of Procedure at the UN and at Inter-governmental Conferences, pp. 96 - 109Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006