Rules of procedure
Annex VIII (a)
Guidelines on the Rationalization of the Agenda of the General Assembly
1. The plenary meetings of the General Assembly should constitute a forum for high-level policy statements, as well as for the consideration, inter alia, of agenda items of special political importance and/or urgency.
2. Agenda items which are of a nature that relates to more than one Main Committee or which do not come within the purview of any Main Committee should be considered by the General Assembly in plenary meeting, taking into account the recommendations of the General Committee.
3. Substantive items initially allocated directly to a plenary meeting of the General Assembly could be reviewed for allocation to a Main Committee in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Assembly, in particular with Assembly decision 34/401, which is reproduced in annex VI to the rules of procedure.
4. There shall be periodic reviews of the agenda, taking into account the views of concerned Member States, in order to ascertain whether it is possible to delete any item on which no resolution or decision has been adopted for a period of time.
5. The Main Committees should be encouraged to continue with the review of their respective agendas, taking into account, inter alia, the following:
- (a) Agenda items concerning issued of closely related substance could be merged within a single agenda title or be incorporated as sub-items where this is possible without loss of focus on the items/sub-items concerned;
- (b) Items that cover related matters or issued could be considered in agreed clusters;
- (c) Biennialization and triennialization of items on the agenda of the Main Committees could be considered in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly;
- (d) The existing broad division of work among the Main Committees should be maintained.
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(a) By resolution 48/264 of 29 July 1994, the General Assembly adopted the Guidelines on the Rationalization of the Agenda of the General Assembly and decided that they should be annexed to the rules of procedure of the Assembly. The Guidelines are reproduced in the present annex.
