DRAFT 4*

Rules of Procedure of the
Intergovernmental Conference on
Emergency Telecommunications

Tampere, FINLAND

16-18 June 1998

as adopted on [                         ]

  CONTENTS

Rule 1:  Objective and Competence of the Conference

1 The objective of the Intergovernmental Conference on Emergency Telecommunications (ICET-98) (hereinafter referred to as "the Conference") is to negotiate and adopt a Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention").

2 The Conference, meeting in Plenary, shall be competent to:

i) adopt the Rules of Procedure of the Conference (hereinafter referred to as "these Rules") and make any amendments thereto;

ii) adopt the agenda of the Conference;

iii) decide on credentials or full powers presented in accordance with Rules 3 and 4 of these Rules;

iv) adopt the Convention;

v) adopt any recommendation or resolution whose subject matter is germane to the Convention;

vi) adopt any Final Act of the Conference;

vii) deal with all other matters referred to it under these Rules or appearing on its agenda.

Rule 2:  Composition of the Conference

1 The Conference shall consist of:

i) delegations of the States present at the Conference (hereinafter referred to as the "delegations");

ii) the Secretary-General of the United Nations and representatives of the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (UNDHA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), who may attend the Conference as observers;

iii) other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that have received an invitation from the Government of Finland, which may attend the Conference as observers.

Rule 3:  Credentials and Full Powers

1 The credentials of delegations and the names of heads of delegation, deputy heads, delegates and advisers shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the Conference as early as possible and preferably not later than 12 hours after the opening of the Conference. Any later

change in the composition of delegations shall also be submitted to the Secretary-General of the Conference.

2 The credentials of delegations and delegates shall be issued by the Head of State or Government, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs or by the Minister responsible for questions dealt with by the Conference.

3 Full powers shall be required for signing the Convention. Such powers may be included in the credentials.

Rule 4:  Examination of Credentials

The decision on whether credentials, full powers, letters or other documents are in order shall be made by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, on the basis of the report submitted by the Credentials Committee. Such decision shall be made as soon as possible and in any case before the adoption of the Convention.

Rule 5:  Provisional Participation

Pending a decision of the Conference upon their credentials, letters or other documents of appointment, delegations shall be entitled to participate provisionally in the Conference.

Rule 6:  Credentials Committee

1 A Credentials Committee shall be appointed at the beginning of the Conference.

2 The Credentials Committee shall be appointed by the Conference on the proposal of the President.

3 The Credentials Committee shall examine the credentials or full powers referred to in Rule 3 and shall report without delay to the Conference, meeting in Plenary.

4 Credentials shall be accepted if they are signed by one of the competent authorities set forth in Rule 3.2 and if they fulfil one of the following criteria:

i) they confer full powers on the delegation;

ii) they authorize the delegation to represent its government, without restrictions; or

iii) they give the delegation, or certain members thereof, the right to sign the Convention or Final Act.

Rule 7:  Other Committees

The Conference may establish any other committee which it deems necessary for the completion of its work and any such committee shall be governed by these Rules, as applicable.

Rule 8:  Officers and their Election

1 The Conference, meeting in Plenary, and presided over by the Secretary-General of the Conference, shall elect from the delegations a President.

2 The Conference, meeting in Plenary, and presided over by the President, shall elect from the delegations its four Vice-Presidents. If the President finds it necessary to be absent from a meeting or any part thereof, he shall designate a Vice-President to take his place.

3 The Credentials Committee shall have a Chairman and one Vice-Chairman, to be elected by the Conference, meeting in Plenary.

Rule 9:  Secretariat of the Conference

1 The Conference shall have a secretariat provided by the Government of Finland.

2 The Secretary-General of the Conference, designated by the Government of Finland, shall act in that capacity in all meetings. He may designate another member of the secretariat to replace him in case of absence.

3 The secretariat shall make all arrangements relating to meetings and provide for the reception, translation, reproduction and distribution of the required documents, for the interpretation of oral interventions and for the performance of all other secretarial work required for the Conference.

Rule 10:  Quorum

1 A quorum shall be required for the taking of any decision in the Conference, meeting in Plenary, which shall consist of one-half of the delegations represented at the Conference.

2 The quorum at the time of the adoption of the Convention by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, shall be constituted by one-half of the delegations whose credentials were found in order by the Conference, meeting in Plenary.

Rule 11:  General Powers of the Presiding Officer

1 In addition to exercising the powers conferred upon the Presiding Officer elsewhere by these Rules, the Presiding Officer shall ensure observance of these Rules, declare the opening and

closing of the meetings, direct the discussions, accord the right to speak, put questions to the vote, and announce decisions. The Presiding Officer shall rule on points of order and, subject to these Rules, shall have complete control of the proceedings and over the maintenance of order at any meeting.

2 The Presiding Officer may propose, to the body over which he presides, limitation of the time to be allowed to each speaker, limitation of the number of times each delegation or observer may speak on any question, closure of the list of speakers or closure of the debate. The Presiding Officer may also propose suspension or adjournment of the meeting, or adjournment of the debate on the question under discussion. Such proposals of the Presiding Officer shall be considered as adopted unless immediately rejected.

Rule 12:  Speeches

1 No one may address the Conference without having previously obtained the permission of the Presiding Officer. Subject to Rules 13 and 14, the Presiding Officer shall call upon speakers in the order in which they signify their desire to speak. The secretariat shall be in charge of drawing up a list of speakers.

2 The Presiding Officer may call a speaker to order if the remarks of the speaker are not relevant to the subject under discussion.

Rule 13:  Precedence

Delegations asking for the floor are generally given precedence over observers asking for the floor.

Rule 14:  Points of Order

1 During the discussion of any matter, any delegation may raise a point of order, and the point of order shall be immediately ruled upon by the Presiding Officer in accordance with these Rules. Any delegation may appeal against the ruling of the Presiding Officer. The appeal shall be put to the vote immediately, and the Presiding Officer's ruling shall stand unless overruled by a majority of the delegations present and voting.

2 A delegation may not, in raising a point of order, speak on the substance of the matter under discussion.

Rule 15:  Limit on Speeches

In any meeting, the Presiding Officer may decide to limit the time allowed to each speaker and the number of times each delegation or observer may speak on any question. When the debate is limited and a delegation or observer has used up its allotted time, the Presiding Officer shall call it to order without delay.

Rule 16:  Closing of List of Speakers

During the discussion of any given question, the Presiding Officer may announce the list of participants who have asked for the floor and declare the list closed as to that question. The right of

reply may be accorded by the Presiding Officer to any speaker if a speech delivered after the list of speakers has been closed makes this desirable.

Rule 17:  Adjournment or Closure of Debate

Any delegation may at any time move the adjournment or closure of the debate on the question under discussion, whether or not any other speaker has asked for the floor. In addition to the speaker proposing the motion to adjourn or close the debate, permission to speak on that motion shall be given only to one delegation seconding and two delegations opposing it, after which the motion shall immediately be put to the vote. The Presiding Officer may limit the time allowed to speakers under this Rule.

Rule 18:  Suspension or Adjournment of the Meeting

During the discussion of any matter, any delegation may move the suspension or the adjournment of the meeting. Such motions shall not be debated, but shall immediately be put to the vote.

Rule 19:  Order of Procedural Motions; Content of Interventions on Such Motions

1 Subject to Rule 14, the following motions shall have precedence in the following order over all other proposals or motions before the meeting:

i) to suspend the meeting;

ii) to adjourn the meeting;

iii) to adjourn the debate on the question under discussion;

iv) to close the debate on the question under discussion.

2 Any delegation that has been given the floor on a procedural motion may speak on that motion only, and may not speak on the substance of the matter under discussion.

Rule 20:  Decisions on the Competence of the Conference

1 If a delegation moves that a duly seconded proposal should not be taken into consideration by the Conference because it is outside the latter's competence, that motion shall be decided upon by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, before the proposal is taken into consideration.

2 If the motion referred to in Rule 20.1 above is made in a body other than the Conference, meeting in Plenary, it shall be referred to the Conference, meeting in Plenary, for a decision.

Rule 21:  Withdrawal of Proposals, Amendments and Motions

A proposal, an amendment or a motion may be withdrawn by its proposer at any time before voting on it has commenced, provided that it has not been amended. A proposal, an amendment or a motion which has thus been withdrawn may be reintroduced by any other delegation.

Rule 22:  Reconsideration of Matters Decided

When any matter has been decided by a body, it may not be reconsidered by that body unless so decided by a majority of the delegations present and voting. In addition to the speaker proposing the motion to reconsider, permission to speak on that motion shall be given only to one delegation seconding and two delegations opposing the motion, after which the motion shall be immediately put to the vote.

Rule 23:  Closed Meetings

The meetings of the Conference shall not be open to the public unless the body so concerned decides otherwise.

Rule 24:  Promotion of General Agreement

The Conference shall, at the Plenary and in any other meetings, make every effort to reach general agreement on matters of substance, and there shall be no voting on such matters until all efforts to that end have been exhausted.

Rule 25:  Right to Vote

Each delegation shall have the right to vote. A delegation shall have one vote, may represent itself only and may vote in its name only.

Rule 26:  Required Majorities

1 All decisions of all bodies shall be made as far as possible by consensus.

2 If it is not possible to attain consensus, the following decisions shall require a majority of two-thirds of the delegations present and voting:

i) adoption by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, of these Rules, and, once adopted, of any amendment to them;

ii) adoption by the Conference, meeting in Plenary, of the Convention.

3 All other decisions of the Conference shall be taken by a majority of the delegations present and voting.

4 If a vote is equally divided on a matter that calls only for a simple majority, the proposal shall be considered rejected.

Rule 27:  Meaning of "Present and Voting"

For the purposes of these Rules, the phrase "present and voting" means delegations present and casting an affirmative or negative vote. Delegations which abstain from voting shall be considered as not voting.

Rule 28:  Method of Voting

1 Any proposal for amendment made by a delegation shall be put to a vote only if seconded by at least one other delegation.

2 The Conference shall normally vote by show of hands or by standing, unless a delegation, seconded by at least one other delegation, requests a roll-call. The roll shall be taken in the English alphabetical order of the names of the States participating in the Conference, beginning with the delegation whose name shall have been drawn by lot by the Presiding Officer.

Rule 29:  Conduct During Voting

After the Presiding Officer has announced the beginning of voting, the voting shall not be interrupted, except on a point of order concerning the process of voting.

Rule 30:  Explanation of Vote

The Presiding Officer may permit delegations to explain their votes and may limit the time to be allowed for such explanations. The delegation sponsoring a proposal, amendment or motion shall not speak in explanation of its vote thereon except if it has been amended.

Rule 31:  Division of Proposals

A delegation may move that parts of a proposal shall be voted on separately. If objection is made to the request for division, the motion for division shall be voted upon. If the motion for division is carried, those parts of the proposal that are subsequently approved shall be put to the vote as a whole. If all operative parts of the proposal have been rejected, the proposal or the amendment shall be considered to have been rejected as a whole.

Rule 32:  Voting on Proposals for Amendment

1 Any proposal for amendment shall be voted upon before the text to which it relates is voted upon.

2 When two or more amendments are moved to a proposal, the Conference shall first vote on the amendment furthest removed in substance from the original proposal and on the amendment next furthest removed therefrom, and so on until all the amendments have been put to a vote. If, however, the adoption of any proposal for amendment necessarily implies the rejection of any other proposal for amendment or of the original text, such other proposal or text shall not be put to the vote.

3 If one or more proposals for amendment relating to the same text are adopted, the text as amended shall be put to the vote.

4 Any proposal the purpose of which is to add to, delete from or revise a text shall be considered a proposal for amendment.

Rule 33:  Voting on Proposals on the Same Question

If two or more proposals relate to the same question, they shall be put to the vote in the order in which they have been submitted, unless the body concerned decides on a different order.

Rule 34:  Languages of the Conference

The languages of the Conference and of official documents shall be English, French and Spanish.

Rule 35:  Records and Sound Recordings of Meetings

The secretariat shall make sound recordings of meetings of the Conference, meeting in Plenary.

Rule 36:  Archives

The depositary of the Convention shall be responsible for the custody and preservation in its archives of all documents and records of the Conference.

Rule 37:  General Rights of Observers

1 Observers may attend the meetings of the Conference. Upon the invitation of the Presiding Officer, they may make oral statements at those meetings on questions within the scope of their activities.

2 Written statements submitted by observers on subjects for which they have a special competence and which are related to the work of the Conference shall be distributed by the secretariat to the participants in the quantities and in the languages in which the written statements were made available to it.

3 Observers:

i) may not participate in decision-making;

ii) may not make any procedural motion or request, raise points of order or appeal against a ruling of the Presiding Officer;

iii) may not introduce proposals or amendments to any proposal.

Rule 38:  Final Act

A Final Act, which will include a list of delegations and observers participating in the Conference, any resolutions or recommendations adopted and a summary of the organization of the Conference, shall be prepared before the closure of the Conference for signature by any delegation, in the languages of the Conference set forth in Rule 34.