Rules of procedure
Introduction
1. At its first regular session, the General Assembly adopted provisional rules of procedure (A/71/Rev.1) based on a text contained in the report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations [PC/20, chap. I, sect. 3].
2. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 102 (I) of 15 December 1946, established the Committee on Procedures and Organization, consisting of 15 Member States.
3. At its second session, the General Assembly considered the report of the Committee on Procedures and Organization [Official Records of the General Assembly, Second Session, Plenary Meetings, vol. II, annex IV, document A/388], which contained draft rules of procedure proposed by the Committee [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Set and Session, Plenary Meetings, document A/388, part III], and, by resolution 173 (II) of 17 November 1947, adopted its rules of procedure. These rules entered into force on 1 January 1948.
4. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 116 (II) of 21 November 1947, decided to add new rules 113, 114, 116 and 117 [ See Rules 134, 135, 137 and 138 of the present rules of procedure], relating to the admission of new Members.
5. At its third session, the General Assembly, by resolution 262 (III) of 11 December 1948, decided to include Spanish among its working languages and to amend accordingly rules 44 to 48 [See Rules 51 to 55 of the present rules of procedure].
6. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 271 (III) of 29 April 1949, established the Special Committee on Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly, consisting of 15 Member States.
7. At its fourth session, the General Assembly considered the recommendations contained in the report of the Special Committee on Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fourth Session, Supplement No. 12 (A/937)] and, by resolution 362 (IV) of 22 October 1949, decided:
- (a) To amend rules 14, 31, 33, 35, 59, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 72, 80, 81, 82, 97, 98, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 110, 117, 118 and 119 [Rules 15, 35, 38, 40, 66, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 79, 88, 89, 90, 106, 108, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 121, 128, 129 and 130 of the present rules of procedure].
- (b) To add new rules 1A, 19, 19B, 19C, 31A, 35A, 35B, 56A, 89A and 97A [Rules 2, 20, 22, 23, 36, 41, 42, 62, 99 and 107 of the present rules of procedure].
By the same resolution, the General Assembly adopted several of the recommendations and suggestions of the Special Committee and requested the Secretary-General to prepare a document embodying these recommendations and suggestions in a convenient form for use by the General Committee and delegations of Member States in the Assembly. The text of these recommendations and suggestions is reproduced in annex I.
8. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 366 (IV) of 3 December 1949, adopted rules for the calling by the Economic and Social Council, under Article 62, paragraph 4, of the Charter, of international conferences of States.
9. At its fifth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 377 A (V) of 3 November 1950, adopted several amendments and additions to its rules of procedure relating to the holding of emergency special sessions; by that resolution, the Assembly decided:
- (a) To add a paragraph
- (b) to rule 8; (b) To add a paragraph (b) to rule 9;
- (c) To insert a new sentence at the end of rule 10;
- (d) To insert a new sentence at the end of rule 16;
- (e) To insert a new sentence at the end of rule 19;
- (f) To insert a new rule 65 [See Rule 63 of the present rules of procedure].
10. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 475 (V) of 1 November 1950, adopted a new rule 84A [See Rule 84 of the present rules of procedure] concerning the majority required for decisions of the Assembly on amendments to proposals relating to important questions and on parts of such proposals put to the vote separately.
11. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 479 (V) of 12 December 1950, adopted rules for the calling by the Economic and Social Council, under Article 62, paragraph 4, of the Charter, of non-governmental conferences.
12. At its sixth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 597 (VI) of 20 December 1951, established the Special Committee for the Consideration of the Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly for Dealing with Legal and Drafting Questions, consisting of 15 Member States.
13. At its seventh session, the General Assembly considered the report of the Special Committee for the Consideration of the Methods and Procedures of the General Assembly for Dealing with Legal and Drafting Questions [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventh Session, Annexes, agenda item 53, document A/2174] and, by resolution 684 (VII) of 6 November 1952, adopted certain recommendations contained in that report; the resolution also provided that:
- (a) The terms of these recommendations should be embodied as an annex to the rules of procedure;
- (b) The said annex should also reproduce paragraphs 19, 20, 29, 30 and 35 to 39 of the report of the Special Committee. The texts of the recommendations and the specified parts of the report of the Special Committee are reproduced in annex II.
14. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 689 A (VII) of 21 December 1952, established the Special Committee on Measures to Limit the Duration of Regular Sessions of the General Assembly, consisting of 15 Member States. By resolution 689 B (VII) of the same date, the Assembly adopted an amendment to rule 2 whereby the Assembly would, at the beginning of each session, fix "a closing date for the session" rather than "a target date for the closing of the session".
15. At its eighth session, the General Assembly considered the report of the Special Committee on Measures to Limit the Duration of Regular Sessions of the General Assembly [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Eighth Session, Annexes, agenda item 54, document A/2402] and, by resolution 791 (VIII) of 23 October 1953, decided:
- (a) To amend rules 38 and 39, relating to the composition of the General Committee;
- (b) To amend rule 98 [See Rule 99 of the present rules of procedure], relating to priorities in the consideration of items in the Main Committees.
16. At its ninth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 844 (IX) of 11 October 1954, adopted six special rules designed to govern its procedure for the examination of reports and petitions relating to the Territory of South West Africa [By resolution 2372 (XXII) of 12 June 1968, the General Assembly decided that "South West Africa" would be known as "Namibia". See paragraph 42 below].
17. At its eleventh session, the General Assembly, at the 577th plenary meeting on 15 November 1956, decided:
- (a) To establish an eighth vice-presidency of the Assembly;
- (b) To change the name of the "Ad Hoc Political Committee" to "Special Political Committee" and to confer a permanent character or that Committee.
At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 1104 (XI) of 18 December 1956, adopted consequential amendments to rules 31, 38, 39 and 101[See Rule 98 of the present rules of procedure].
18. At its twelfth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 1192 (XII) of 12 December 1957, decided to increase the number of Vice-Presidents of the Assembly from 8 to 13 and adopted consequential amendments to rules 31 and 38. In an annex to the resolution, the General Assembly approved the pattern according to which the Vice-Presidents should be elected.
19. At its sixteenth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 1659 (XVI) of 28 November 1961, decided to increase the membership of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions from 9 to 12 and adopted consequential amendments to rules 156 and 157 [See Rules 155 and 156 of the present rules of procedure].
20. At its seventeenth session, the General Assembly, at the 1162nd plenary meeting on 30 October 1962, established the Ad Hoc Committee on the Improvement of the Methods of Work of the General Assembly, consisting of 18 members. By resolution 1845 (XVII) of 19 December 1962, the Assembly decided to continue the Ad Hoc Committee.
21. At its eighteenth session, the General Assembly considered the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Improvement of the Methods of Work of the General Assembly [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Eighteenth Session, Annexes, agenda item 25, document A/5423] and, by resolution 1898 (XVIII) of 11 November 1963, took note of the observations contained in that report and approved the recommendations submitted by the Committee. The text of the resolution is reproduced in annex III.
22. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 1990 (XVIII) of 17 December 1963, decided to increase the number of Vice-Presidents of the Assembly from 13 to 17 and adopted consequential amendments to rules 31 and 38. In an annex to the resolution, the Assembly approved the pattern according to which the President of the Assembly, the 17 Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the 7 Chairmen of the Main Committees should be elected.
23. At its twentieth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2046 (XX) of 8 December 1965, following the entry into force of the amendments to Articles 23, 27 and 61 of the Charter, amended its rules of procedure as follows:
- (a) In rule 8 (b), the word "seven" was replaced by the word "nine";
- (b) In rule 143 [See Rule 142 of the present rules of procedure], the word "three" was replaced by the word "five";
- (c) In rule 146 [See Rule 145 of the present rules of procedure], the word "six" was replaced by the word "nine".
The pattern for the election of the non-permanent members of the Security Council is reproduced in a footnote to rule 142.
24. At its twenty-second session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2323 (XXII) of 16 December 1967, decided to amend rules 89 and 128 [See Rules 87 and 127 of the present rules of procedure] by adding to each of these rules a new paragraph (b) to take into account the installation of mechanical means of voting.
25. At the same session, the General Assembly, at the 1629th plenary meeting on 13 December 1967, took note of a correction to the French version of rule 15 [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-second Session. Annexes, agenda item 8, document A/BUR/169] whereby the words "caractère d'importance ou d'urgence" in the first sentence of that rule were replaced by the words "caractère d'importance et d'urgence".
26. At its twenty-third session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2390 (XXIII) of 25 November 1968, decided to increase the membership of the Committee on Contributions from 10 to 12 and adopted a consequential amendment to rule 159 [See Rule 158 of the present rules of procedure].
27. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2479 (XXIII) of 21 December 1968, decided to include Russian among its working languages and to amend accordingly rule 51.
28. At its twenty-fourth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2553 (XXIV) of 12 December 1969, adopted amendments to rules 52, 53 and 55 [See paragraph 34 above] consequent upon the amendment to rule 51 adopted at the twenty-third session.
29. At its twenty-fifth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2632 (XXV) of 9 November 1970, established the Special Committee on the Rationalization of the Procedures and Organization of the General Assembly, consisting of 31 Member States.
30. At its twenty-sixth session, the General Assembly considered the report of the Special Committee on the Rationalization of the Procedures and Organization of the General Assembly [See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 26 (A/8426)] and, by resolution 2837 (XXVI) of 17 December 1971, decided:
- (a) To amend rule 60 [See Rule 58 of the present rules of procedure] to reflect the practice of the Assembly and its committees regarding the records and sound recordings of meetings;
- (b) To amend rules 69 and 110 [See Rules 67 and 108 of the present rules of procedure] to authorize the presiding officer to declare a meeting open and permit the debate to proceed when at least one third of the members of the Assembly or one quarter of the members of a committee are present;
- (c) To amend rules 74 and 115 [See Rules 72 and 114 of the present rules of procedure] to permit no more than two representatives to speak in favour, and two against, a proposal to limit the time to be allowed to each speaker or the number of times each representative may speak on any question;
- (d) To amend rule 100 to include in it more detailed provisions relating to the organization of work of the Main Committees, and to renumber it rule 101[See Rule 99 of the present rules of procedure] (former rule 101 became rule 100 [See Rule 98 of the present rules of procedure]);
- (e) To amend rule 105 [See Rule 103 of the present rules of procedure] to provide that:
- (i) Each Main Committee shall elect a Chairman, two Vice-Chairmen and a Rapporteur;
- (ii) Each other committee shall elect a Chairman, one or more Vice-Chairmen and a Rapporteur;
- (iii) Elections shall be held by secret ballot unless the committee decides otherwise in an election where only one candidate is standing;
- (iv) The nomination of each candidate shall be limited to one speaker, after which the committee shall immediately proceed to the election and to adopt consequential amendments to rules 39 and l07[See Rule 105 of the present rules of procedure];
- (f) To insert a new rule 112 [See Rule 110 of the present rules of procedure], relating to congratulations to the officers of Main Committees, and to renumber accordingly the existing rules 112 to 164 [See Rules 111 to 163 of the present rules of procedure].
By resolution 2837 (XXVI), the General Assembly also approved the conclusions of the Special Committee and decided that they should be annexed to the rules of procedure; these conclusions are reproduced in annex IV. In one of the recommendations [See Resolution 2837 (XXVI), annex II, para. 128], the Secretary-General was requested to undertake a comparative study of the versions of the rules of procedure in the various official languages in order to ensure their concordance; this request was complied with and the relevant editing changes were incorporated in the rules.
31. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2798 (XXVI) of 13 December 1971, decided to increase the membership of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions from 12 to 13 and adopted a consequential amendment to rule 157 [See Rule 155 of the present rules of procedure].
32. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2847 (XXVI) of 20 December 1971, decided to amend Article 61 of the Charter to increase from 27 to 54 the number of members of the Economic and Social Council. By that resolution, the Assembly also decided that, upon the entry into force of the amendment to the Charter, the word "nine" in rule 147 [See Rule 145 of the present rules of procedure] would be replaced by the word "eighteen". The amendment to the Charter entered into force on 24 September 1973. The pattern for the election of the members of the Economic and Social Council, as set forth in resolution 2847 (XXVI), is reproduced in a footnote to rule 145.
33. At its twenty-seventh session, the General Assembly, by resolution 2913 (XXVII) of 9 November 1972, decided to increase the membership of the Committee on Contributions from 12 to 13 and adopted a consequential amendment to rule 160 [See Rule 158 of the present rules of procedure].
34. At its twenty-eighth session, the General Assembly, by resolutions 3189 (XXVIII) and 3190 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973, decided:
- (a) To include Chinese among the working languages of the Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees;
- (b) To include Arabic among the official and the working languages of the Assembly and its Main Committees.
By resolution 3191 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973, the Assembly adopted consequential amendments to its rules of procedure, whereby rules 51 to 59 were replaced by new rules 51 to 57, and rules 60 to 165 were renumbered accordingly.
35. At its thirty-first session, the General Assembly, by resolution 31/95 of 14 December 1976, decided to increase the membership of the Committee on Contributions from 13 to 18 and, by resolution 31/96 of the same date, adopted a consequential amendment to rule 158.
36. At its thirty-second session, the General Assembly, by resolution 32/103 of 14 December 1977, decided to increase the membership of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions from 13 to 16 and adopted a consequential amendment to rule 155. By the same resolution, the Assembly also decided:
- (a) To adopt an amendment to rule 156 whereby the members of the Advisory Committee would serve for a period of three years corresponding to "three calendar years" rather than "three financial years, as defined in the Financial Regulations of the United Nations";
- (b) To amend rule 157 to take into account, inter alia, the biennial presentation of the budget.
37. At its thirty-third session, the General Assembly, by resolution 33/12 of 3 November 1978, adopted an amendment to rule 159 whereby the members of the Committee on Contributions would serve for a period of three years corresponding to "three calendar years" rather than "three financial years, as defined in the Financial Regulations of the United Nations".
38. At the same session, the General Assembly, by resolution 33/138 of 19 December 1978, decided to increase the number of Vice-Presidents of the Assembly from 17 to 21 and adopted consequential amendments to rules 30 and 38. In an annex to the resolution, which replaced the annex to resolution 1990 (XVIII) [See paragraph 22 above], the Assembly approved the pattern according to which the President of the Assembly, the 21 Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the 7 Chairmen of the Main Committees should be elected; the text of that annex is reproduced in a footnote to rule 30.
39. At its thirty-fourth session, the General Assembly, by decision 34/401 of 21 September, 25 October, 29 November and 12 December 1979, adopted a number of provisions concerning the rationalization of the procedures and organization of the Assembly. Sections I to V of the decision are reproduced in annex V.
40. At its thirty-fifth session, the General Assembly, by resolutions 35/219 A and B of 17 December 1980, decided to include Arabic among the official and working languages of the subsidiary organs of the Assembly, no later than 1 January 1982, and adopted consequential amendments to rules 51, 52, 54 and 56.
41. At its thirty-ninth session, the General Assembly, by resolution 39/88 B of 13 December 1984, approved the conclusions of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization concerning the rationalization of the procedures of the Assembly and decided that they should be annexed to the rules of procedure; these conclusions are reproduced in annex VI.
42. As a result of the accession of Namibia (formerly the Territory of South West Africa) to independence on 21 March 1990, annex III to the rules of procedure (A/520/Rev.15), entitled "Procedure for the examination of reports and petitions relating to the Territory of South West Africa", is no longer applicable and has been removed. Subsequent annexes have been renumbered accordingly.
43. At its forty-fifth session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 45/45 of 28 November 1990, approved the conclusions of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization concerning the rationalization of existing United Nations procedures, and decided that they should be reproduced as an annex to its rules of procedure. These conclusions are reproduced in annex VII.
44. At its forty-seventh session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 47/233 of 17 August 1993, decided to rationalize the structure of the Main Committees of the Assembly and to amend accordingly rules 31 [See Rule 30 of the present rules of procedure], 38 and 98 of its rules of procedure.
45. At its forty-eighth session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 48/264 of 29 July 1994, adopted the Guidelines on the Rationalization of the Agenda of the General Assembly, set forth in annex I to the resolution, and decided that they should be annexed to its rules of procedure. The Guidelines are reproduced in annex VIII. By the same resolution, the Assembly approved the pattern of election of the six Chairmen of the Main Committees, set forth in annex II to the resolution. The text of that annex, which replaced paragraph 4 of the annex to resolution 33/138 of 19 December 1978, is reproduced in a footnote to rule 30.
46. At its fifty-second session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 52/163 of 15 December 1997, decided to amend the first sentence of rule 103 of the rules of procedure to increase the number of Vice-Chairmen of each Main Committee from two to three, as from the fifty-third session.
47. At its fifty-fifth session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 55/14 of 3 November 2000, amended rule 1 of the rules of procedure whereby the Assembly would meet every year in regular session commencing "on the Tuesday following the second Monday in September".
48. At its fifty-sixth session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 56/509 of 8 July 2002, decided:
- (a) To amend rule 30 to allow the Assembly to elect a President and twenty-one Vice-Presidents at least three months before the opening of the session over which they are to preside;
- (b) To amend rule 31 so that if at the opening of a session of the Assembly, the President for that session has not yet been elected, the President of the previous session, or the chairman of that delegation from which the President of the previous session was elected, would preside until the Assembly has elected a President;
- (c) To amend paragraph (a) of rule 99 to allow all the Main Committees, at least three months before the opening of the session, to elect a Chairman and elections of the other officers provided for in rule 103 to be held at the latest by the end of the first week of the session.
49. At its fifty-seventh session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 57/301 of 13 March 2003, amended rule 1 of the rules of procedure whereby the Assembly would meet every year in regular session commencing on the Tuesday of the third week in September, counting from the first week that contains at least one working day.
50. At the same session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 57/301 of 13 March 2003, decided to change the opening date and length of the general debate and also decided to annex paragraph 2 of the resolution to the rules of procedure. The paragraph is reproduced in annex IX.
51. At its sixty-eighth session, the General Assembly, by its decision 68/505 of 1 October 2013, approved the interim arrangement concerning the rotation of the Chairs of the Main Committees of the Assembly at its next five sessions.
52. At its seventieth session, the General Assembly, by its resolution 70/305 of 13 September 2016, decided that the President-elect of the General Assembly shall take an oath of office of his or her own, as detailed in annex I to the resolution, at the moment of handing over the gavel in the final plenary meeting of the preceding session, and that the text of the oath shall be annexed to the rules of procedure of the Assembly. The text of the oath is reproduced in annex X.
53. At the same session, the General Assembly, also by its resolution 70/305, decided that the President of the General Assembly shall observe a code of ethics, as detailed in annex II to the resolution, and that the text of the code of ethics for the President of the Assembly shall be annexed xxii to the rules of procedure of the Assembly. The text of the code of ethics is reproduced in annex XI.
54. The present revised edition of the rules of procedure embodies all the amendments adopted by the General Assembly during the period up to and including its seventieth session.
55. The previous versions of the rules of procedure and of the amendments and corrigenda thereto have been issued under the following symbols:
- December 1947: A/520
- June 1948: A/520/Corr.1 (French only)
- January 1950: A/520/Rev.1
- January 1951: A/520/Rev 2
- July 1954: A/520/Rev.3
- March 1956: A/520/Rev.4
- September 1957: A/520/Rev.5 (formerly A/3660)
- January 1958: A/520/Rev.5/Corr.1 (formerly A/3660/Corr.1)
- February 1961: A/520/Rev.6 (formerly A/4700)
- February 1962: A/520/Rev 6/Corr.1 (formerly A/4700/Corr.1)
- June 1964: A/520/Rev.7
- March 1966: A/520/Rev.8
- January 1968: A/520/Rev.9
- April 1969: A/520/Rev.9/Corr.1
- July 1970: A/520/Rev.10
- May 1972: A/520/Rev.11
- November 1973: A/520/Rev.11/Amend.1
- February 1974: A/520/Rev.12
- January 1977: A/520/Rev.12/Amend.1
- March 1978: A/520/Rev.12/Amend.2
- March 1979: A/520/Rev.13
- March 1982: A/520/Rev.14
- May 1985: A/520/Rev.15
- August 1991: A/520/Rev.15/Amend.1
- October 1993: A/520/Rev.15/Amend.2
- September 2006: A/520/Rev.16
- September 2007: A/520/Rev.16/Corr 1
- April 2008: A/520/Rev.17
- December 2016: A/520/Rev.18
