2003 National Model United Nations
Rules of Procedure
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

1. These rules shall be the only rules which apply to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (hereinafter “the Conference”) and shall be considered adopted by the Conference prior to its first meeting.

2. For purposes of these rules, the Committee Director, the Assistant Director, the Under-Secretaries General, the Assistant-Secretaries General, and the Director-General are designates and agents of the Secretary General, and are collectively referred to as the “Secretariat.”

3. Interpretation of the rules shall be reserved exclusively to the Secretary-General or his or her designate. Such interpretation shall be in accordance with the philosophy and principles of the National Model United Nations, and in furtherance of the educational mission of that organization.

4. For the purposes of these rules, “President” shall refer to the chairperson, or acting chairperson of the Conference.

The Conference shall meet every year in regular session, commencing and closing on the dates designated by the Secretary-General.

The Conference shall meet at a location designated by the Secretary-General.

The provisional agulenda shall be drawn up by the Secretary-General and communicated to members of the United Nations at least sixty days before the opening of the session.

The agenda provided by the Secretary-General shall be considered adopted as of the beginning of the session. The order of the agenda items shall be determined by a majority vote of those present and voting in the Conference. Items on the agenda may be amended or deleted by the Conference by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.

The vote described in this rule is a procedural vote and as such, observers are permitted to cast a vote. For purposes of this rule, “those present and voting in the Conference” means those delegates, including observers, in attendance at the session during which this motion comes to vote.

During a session, the Conference may revise the agenda by adding, deleting, deferring or amending items. Only important and urgent items shall be added to the agenda during a session. Permission to speak on a motion to revise the agenda shall be accorded only to three representatives in favor of, and three opposed to, the revision. Additional items of an important and urgent character, proposed for inclusion in the agenda less than thirty days before the opening of a session, may be placed on the agenda if the Conference so decides by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting. No additional item may, unless the General Assembly decides otherwise by a two- thirds majority of the members present and voting, be considered until a committee has reported on the question concerned.

For purposes of this rule, the determination of an items “important and urgent character” is subject to the discretion of the Secretariat, and any such determination is final. If an item is determined to be of such a character, then it requires a two-thirds vote of the Conference to be placed on the agenda. The votes described in this rule are substantive votes, and as such, observers are not perm itted to cast a vote. For purposes of this rule, “the members present and voting” means those members (not including observers) in attendance at the session during which this motion comes to vote.

1. The Secretary-General or his/her designate shall act in this capacity in all meetings of the Conference.
2. The Secretary-General shall provide and direct the staff required by the Conference and be responsible for all the arrangements that maybe necessary for its meetings.

The Secretariat shall receive, print, and distribute documents, reports, and resolutions of the Conference, and shall distribute documents of the Conference to the members of the United Nations, and generally perform all other work which the Conference may require.

The Secretary-General, or his/her representative, may make oral as well as written statements to the Conference concerning any question under consideration.

The Secretary-General or his/her designate shall appoint, from applications received by the Secretariat, a President who shall hold office and, inter alia, chair the committee for the duration of the session, unless otherwise decided by the Secretary-General.

If the President is unable to perform his/her function, a new President shall be appointed for the unexpired term at the discretion of the Secretary-General.

English shall be the official and working language of the Conference.

Any repree sentative wishing to address any United Nations body or submit a document in a language other than English shall provide translation into English.

This rule does not affect the total speaking time allotted to those representatives wishing to address the body in a language other than English. As such, both the speech and the translation must be within the set time limit.

The President may declare a meeting open and permit debate to proceed when representatives of at least one third of the members of the Conference are present. The presence of representatives of a majority of the members of the body concerned shall be required for any decision to be taken.

For purposes of this rule, “members of the Conference” and “members of the body” are based on the number of total members (not including observers) in attendance for the Tuesday Night session

In addition to exercising the powers conferred upon him/her elsewhere by these rules, the President shall declare the opening and closing of each meeting of the Conference, direct the discussions, ensure observance of these rules, accord the right to speak, put questions to the vote and announce decisions. The President, subject to these rules, shall have complete control of the proceedings of the Conference and over the maintenance of order at its meetings. She or he shall rule on points of order. She or he may propose to the Conference the closure of the list of speakers, a limitation on the time to be allowed to speakers and on the number of times the representative of each member may speak on an item, the adjournment or closure of the debate, and the suspension or adjournment of a meeting.

Included in these enumerated powers is the President’s power to assign speaking times for all speeches incidental to motions and amendment. Further, the President is to use his or her discretion, upon the advice and at the consent of the Secretariat, to determine whether to entertain a particular motion based on the philosophy and principles of the NMUN. Such discretion should be used on a limited basis and only under circumstances where it is necessaiy to advance the educational mission of the Conference. For purposes of this rule, the President’s power to “propose to the Conference” entails his or her power to “entertain” motions, and not to move the body on his or her own motion.

The President, in the exercise of his or her functions, remains under the authority of the Conference.

During the discussion of any matter, a representative may rise to a point of order, which shall be decided immediately by the President. Any appeal of the decision of the President shall be immediately put to a vote, and the ruling of the President shall stand unless overruled by a majority of the members present and voting.

Such points of order should not under any circumstances interrupt the speech of a fellow representative. Any questions on order arising during a speech made by a representative should be raised at the conclusion of the speech, or can be addressed by the President, sua sponte, during the speech. For purposes of this rule, “the members present and voting” means those members (not including observers) in attendance at the session during which this motion comes to vote.

A representative may not, in rising to a point of order, speak on the substance of the matter under discussion.

1. No one may address the Conference without having previously obtained the permission of the President. The President shall call upon speakers in the order in which they signify their desire to speak.
2. Debate shall be confined to the question before the Conference, and the President may call a speaker to order if his/her remarks are not relevant to the subject under discussion.
3. The Conference may limit the time allowed to speakers and all representatives may speak on any question;
permission to speak on a motion to set such limits shall be accorded only to two representatives favoring
and two opposing such limits, after which the motion shall be put to the vote immediately. When debate is
limited and a speaker exceeds the allotted time, the President shall call him or her to order without delay.

In line with the philosophy and principles of the NI in furtherance of its educational mission, and for the purpose offacilitating debate, if the President determines that the Conference in large part does not want to deviate from the limits to the speaker ‘s time as it is then set, and that any additional motions will not be well received by the body, the President, in his or her discretion, and on the advice and consent of the Secretariat, may rule as dilatoiy any additional motions to change the limits of the speaker ‘s time.

Members may only be on the list of speakers once but may be added again after having spoken. During the course of a debate the President may announce the list of speakers and, with consent of the Conference, declare the list closed. When there are no more speakers, the President shall declare the debate closed. Such closure shall have the same effect as closure by decision of the Conference.

The decision to announce the list of speakers is within the discretion of the President and should not be the subject of a motion by the Conference. A motion to close the speaker’s list is within the purview of the Conference and the President should not on his own motion move the body.

If a remark impugns the integrity of a representative’s state, the President may permit a right of reply following the conclusion of the controversial speech, and shall determine an appropriate time limit for the reply. No ruling on this question shall be subject to appeal.

For purposes of this rule, a remark that “impugns the integrity of a representative ‘s state” is one directed at the governing authority of that state and/or one that puts into question that state ‘s sovereignty or a portion thereof All rights of reply shall be made in writing addressed to the Secretariat and shall not be raised as a point or motion. The Reply shall be read to the body by the representative only upon approval of the Secretariat, and in no case after voting has concluded on all matters relating to the agenda topic, during the discussion of which, the right arose.

During the discussion of any matter, a representative may move the suspension of the meeting, specifying a time for reconvening. Such motions shall not be debated but shall be put to a vote immediately, requiring the support of a majority of the members present and voting to pass.

During the discussion of any matter, a representative may move the adjournment of the meeting. Such motions shall not be debated but shall be put to the vote immediately, requiring the support of a majority of the members present and voting to pass. After adjournment, the Conference shall reconvene at its next regularly scheduled meeting time.

As this motion, if successful, would end the meeting until the Conference’s next regularly scheduled meeting the following year, and in accordance with the philosophy and principles of the NM UN and in furtherance of its educational mission, the President will not entertain such a motion until the end of the last session of the Conference.

A representative may at any time move the adjournment of debate on the topic under discussion. Permission to speak on the motion shall be accorded only to two representatives favoring and two opposing the adjournment, after which the motion shall be put to a vote immediately, requiring the support of a majority of the members present andvoting to pass. If a motion for adjournment passes, the topic is considered dismissed and no action will be taken on it.

A representative may at any time move the closure of debate on the item under discussion, whether or not any other representative has signified his or her wish to speak. Permission to speak on the motion shall be accorded only to two representatives opposing the closure, after which the motion shall be put to the vote immediately. Closure of debate shall require a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting. If the Conference favors the closure of debate, the Conference shall immediately move to vote on all proposals introduced under that agenda item.

Subject to rule 21, the motions indicated below shall have precedence in the following order over all proposals or other motions before the meeting:
a) To suspend the meeting;
b) To adjourn the meeting;
c) To adjourn the debate on the item under discussion;
d) To close the debate on the item under discussion.

Proposals and substantive amendments shall normally be submitted in writing to the Secretariat, with the names of twenty percent of the representatives present who would like the Conference to consider the proposal or amendment. The Secretariat may, at its discretion, approve the proposal or amendment for circulation among the delegations. As a general rule, no proposal shall be put to the vote at any meeting of the Conference unless copies of it have been circulated to all delegations. The President may, however, permit the discussion and consideration of amendments, or of motions as to procedure even though such amendments and motions have not been circulated. If the sponsors agree to the adoption of a proposed amendment, the proposal shall be modified accordingly and no vote shall be taken on the proposed amendment. A document modified in this manner shall be considered as the proposal pending before the body for all purposes, including subsequent amendments.

For purposes of this rule, “representatives present” is based on the number of total representatives (including observers) in attendance for the Tuesday Night session. For purposes of this rule, all “proposals “shall be in the form of working papers prior to their approval by the Secretariat. Working papers will not be copied, or in any other way distributed, to the Conference by the Secretariat. The distribution of such working papers is solely the responsibility of the sponsors of that working paper. Along these lines, and in furtherance of the philosophy and principles of the NMUN and for the purpose of advancing its educational mission, representatives should not directly refer to the substance of a working paper that has not yet been accepted as a draft resolution/report. After approval of a working paper, the proposal becomes a draft resolution/report and will be copied by the Secretariat for distribution to the Conference. These draft resolutions/reports are the collective property of the Conference, and as such, the names of the original sponsors will be removed. The copying and distribution of amendments is at the discretion of the Secretariat, but the substance of all such amendments will be made available to all representatives in some form.

A proposal or a motion may be withdrawn by its sponsor at any time before voting has commenced, provided that it has not been amended. A motion thus withdrawn may be reintroduced by any representative.

When a topic has been adjourned, it may not be reconsidered at the same session unless the Conference, by a two thirds majority of those present and voting, so decides. Reconsideration can only be moved by a representative who voted on the prevailing side of the original motion to adjourn. Permission to speak on a motion to reconsider shall be accorded only to two speakers opposing the motion, after which it shall be put to the vote immediately.

For purposes of this rule, “those present and voting” means those representatives, including observers, in attendance at the session during which this motion comes to vote.

Each member of the Conference shall have one vote.

This section applies to substantive voting on amendments, draft resolutions, and portions of draft resolutions divided out by motion. As such, all references to “member( “do not include observers, who are not perm itted to cast votes on substantive matters.

A proposal or motion before the Conference for decision shall be voted upon if any member so requests. Where no member requests a vote, the Conference may adopt proposals or motions without a vote.

For purposes of this rule, “proposal” means any draft resolution/report, an amendment thereto, or a portion of a draft resolution/report divided out by motion. Just prior to a vote on a particular proposal or motion, the President may ask if there are any objections to passing the proposal or motion by acclimation, or a member may move to accept the proposal or motion by acclimation. If there are no objections to the proposal or motion, then it is adopted without vote.

1. Unless specified otherwise in these rules, decisions of the Conference shall be made by a majority of the members present and voting.

2. For the purpose of tabulation, the phrase “members present and voting” means members casting an affirmative or negative vote. Members which abstain from voting are considered as not voting.

All members declaring their representative states as “present and voting” during the attendance role call for the session during which the substantive voting occurs, must cast an affirmative or negative vote, and cannot abstain.

1. The Conference shall normally vote by a show of placards, except that a representative may request a roll call, which shall be taken in the English alphabetical order of the names of the members, beginning with the member whose name is randomly selected by the President. The name of each present member shall be called in any roll call, and one of its representatives shall reply “yes,” “no,” “abstention,” or “pass.”

Only those members, who designate themselves as “present” or “present and voting” during the attendance roll call or in some other manner communicate their attendance to the President and/or Secretariat, are perm itted to vote, and as such, no others will be called during a roll call vote. Any representatives replying “pass, “must, on the second time through, respond with either “ “or “no.” A “pass” cannot be followed by a second ‘ipass “for the same proposal or amendment, nor can it be followed by an abstention on that same proposal or amendment

2. When the Conference votes by mechanical means, a non-recorded vote shall replace a vote by the show of placards and a recorded vote shall replace a roll call. A representative may request a recorded vote. In the case of a recorded vote, the Conference shall dispense with the procedure of calling out the names of the members.

3. The vote of each member participating in a roll call or a recorded vote shall be inserted in the record.

Representatives may make brief statements consisting solely of explanation of their votes after the voting has been completed. The representatives of a member sponsoring a proposal or motion shall not speak in explanation of vote thereon, except if it has been amended, and the member has voted against the proposal or motion.

All explanations of vote must be submitted the President in writing before debate on the topic is closed, except where the representative is of a member sponsoring the proposal, as described in the second clause, in which case the explanation of vote must be submitted to the President immediately after voting on the topic has come to an end.

After the President has announced the commencement of voting, no representatives shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connections with the actual process of voting.

Immediately before a proposal or amendment comes to a vote, a representative may move that parts of a proposal or of an amendment should be voted on separately. If there are calls for multiple divisions, those shall be voted upon in an order to be set by the President where the most radical division will be voted upon first. If objection is made to the motion for division, the request for division shall be voted upon, requiring the support of a majority of those present and voting to pass. Permission to speak on the motion for division shall be given only to two speakers in favor and two speakers against. If the motion for division is carried, those parts of the proposal or of the amendment which are involved shall then be put to a vote. 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.

For purposes of this rule, “most radical division “means the division that will remove the greatest substance from the draft resolution, but not necessarily the one that will remove the most words or clauses. The determination of which division is “most radical” is subject to the discretion of the Secretariat, and any such determination is final.

An amendment is a proposal that does no more than add to, delete from or revise part of another proposal.

An amendment can add, amend, or delete operative clauses, but cannot in any manner add, amend, delete, or otherwise affect preamblato clauses.

When an amendment is moved to a proposal, the amendment shall be voted on first. When two or more amendments are moved to a proposal, the amendment furthest removed in substance from the original proposal shall be voted on first and then the amendment next furthest removed therefrom, and so on watil all the amendments have been put to the vote. Where, however, the adoption of one amendment necessarily implies the rejection of another amendment, the latter shall not be put to the vote. If one or more amendments are adopted, the amended proposal shall then be voted on.

For purposes of this rule, ‘furthest removed in substance” means the amendment that will have the most sign impact on the draft resolution. The determination of which amendment is “furthest removed in substance” is subject to the discretion of the Secretariat, and any such determination is final

If two or more proposals, other than amendments, relate to the same question, they shall, unless the Conference decides otherwise, be voted on in order in which they were submitted.

The President shall not vote but may designate another member of his or her delegation to vote in his or her place.