A. Right to Speak
| 1. | The Chairman shall call upon speakers in the order in which they signify their desire to speak. |
| 2. | A Commissioner or Observer may speak only if called upon by the Chairman, who may call a speaker to order if his remarks are not relevant to the subject under discussion. |
| 3. | A speaker shall not be interrupted except on a point of order. He may, however, with the permission of the Chairman, give way during his speech to allow any other Commissioner to request elucidation on a particular point in that speech. |
| 4. | The Chairman of a committee or working group may be accorded precedence for the purpose of explaining the conclusion arrived at by his committee or group. |
B. Submission of Motions
| 1. | Proposals and amendments shall normally be introduced in writing in the working language of the meeting and shall be submitted to the Secretariat which shall circulate copies to all delegations in the session. As a general rule, no proposal shall be discussed at any plenary session unless copies of it have been circulated to all delegations normally no later than 6pm, or earlier if so determined by the Chairman in consultation with the Commissioners, on the day preceding the plenary session. The presiding officer may, however, permit the discussion and consideration of amendments, or motions, as to procedure, even though such amendments, or motions have not been circulated previously. |
C. Procedural Motions
| 1. | During the discussion of any matter, a Commissioner may rise to a point of order, and the point of order shall be immediately decided by the Chairman in accordance with these Rules of Procedure. A Commissioner may appeal against any ruling of the Chairman. The appeal shall be immediately put to the vote and the Chairman's ruling shall stand unless a majority of the Commissioners present and voting otherwise decide. A Commissioner rising to a point of order may not speak on the substance of the matter under discussion. |
| 2. | The following motions shall have precedence in the following order over
all other proposals or motions before the Commission: (a) to adjourn the session; (b) to adjourn the debate on the particular subject or question under discussion; (c) to close the debate on the particular subject or question under discussion. |
D. Arrangements for Debate
| 1. | The Commission may, in a proposal by the Chairman or by a Commissioner, limit the time to be allowed to each speaker and the number of times the members of a delegation may speak on any question. When the debate is subject to such limits, and a speaker has spoken for his allotted time, the Chairman shall call him to order without delay. |
| 2. | During the course of a debate the Chairman may announce the list of speakers, and with the consent of the Commission, declare the list closed. He may, however, accord the right of reply to any Commissioner if a speech delivered after he has declared the list closed makes this desirable. |
| 3. | During the discussion of any matter, a Commissioner may move the adjournment of the debate on the particular subject or question under discussion. In addition to the proposer of the motion, a Commissioner may speak in favour of, and two Commissioners may speak against the motion, after which the motion shall immediately be put to the vote. The Chairman may limit the time to be allowed to speakers under this rule. |
| 4. | A Commissioner may at any time move the closure of the debate on the particular subject or question under discussion, whether or not any other Commissioner has signified the wish to speak. Permission to speak on the motion for the closure of the debate shall be accorded only to two Commissioners wishing to speak against the motion, after which the motion shall immediately be put to the vote. The Chairman may limit the time to be allowed to speakers under this rule. |
E. Procedure for Voting on Motions and Amendments
| 1. | A Commissioner may move that parts of a proposal or of an amendment shall be voted on separately. If objection is made to the request of such division, the motion for division shall be voted upon. Permission to speak on the motion for division shall be accorded only to two Commissioners wishing to speak in favour of, and two Commissioners wishing to speak against, the motion. If the motion for division is carried, those parts of the proposal or amendments which are subsequently approved shall be put to the vote as a whole. If all operative parts of the proposal or of the amendment have been rejected, the proposal or the amendment shall be considered to have been rejected as a whole. |
| 2. | When the amendment is moved to a proposal, the amendment shall be voted on first. When two or more amendments are moved to a proposal, the Commission shall first vote on the last amendment moved and then on the next to last, and so on until all amendments have been put to the vote. When, however, the adoption of one amendment necessarily implies the rejection of another amendment, the latter amendment shall not be put to the vote. If one or more amendments are adopted, the amended proposal shall then be voted upon. A motion is considered an amendment to a proposal if it merely adds to, deletes from or revises part of that proposal. |
| 3. | If two or more proposals relate to the same question, the Commission shall, unless it otherwise decides, vote on the proposals in the order in which they have been submitted. The Commission may, after voting on a proposal, decide whether to vote on the next proposal. |
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