The General Assembly

The role of the General Assembly
Composition of the General Assembly
Functioning of the General Assembly

The role of the General Assembly

The General Assembly is the Organization's supreme body; it is its plenary deliberative organ, and the Executive Committee is the restricted deliberative organ.

Its policy-making powers are exercised through normative, elective and control functions which, in conformity with Article 8 of the Organization's Constitution, are as follows:

1. To carry out the duties laid down in the Constitution, which include taking decisions on fundamental matters such as the admission of new members (Article 4) or approving amendments to the Constitution (Article 42);
   
   
2. To determine principles and lay down the general measures suitable for attaining the objectives of the Organization as given in Article 2 of the Constitution;
   
   
3. To examine and approve the general programme of activities prepared by the Secretary General for the coming year (Articles 26 and 29 of the Constitution);
   
   
4. To determine any other regulations deemed necessary (Article 44 of the Constitution and Article 51 of the General Regulations);
   
   
5. To elect persons to perform the functions mentioned in the Constitution; the Assembly elects the President of the Organization, the three Vice-Presidents and delegates on the Executive Committee, and appoints the Secretary General (Articles 16, 19 and 28 of the Constitution);
   
   
6. To adopt resolutions and make recommendations to Members on matters with which the Organization is competent to deal (Article 17 of the General Regulations);
   
   
7. To determine the financial policy of the Organization (Articles 39 and 40 of the Constitution);
   
   
8. To examine and approve any agreements to be made with other organizations or states (Article 41 of the Constitution).
   

Composition of the General Assembly

The General Assembly is composed of delegates of member countries. Each country's delegation is made up of one or more delegates, with a head of delegation appointed by the competent governmental authority of that country.

Because of the technical nature of the Organization, Members should attempt to include in their delegations senior police officials, national officials whose normal duties are connected with the activities of the Organization, and specialists in the subjects on the agenda (Article 7 of the Constitution).

In addition, police bodies from countries which are not members of the Organization and international organizations can be invited to attend General Assembly sessions as observers (Article 8 of the General Regulations).

Functioning of the General Assembly

This is governed by various provisions of the Organization's Constitution and by Articles 2 to 38 of its General Regulations. In addition, at its 65th session (Antalya, 1996), the General Assembly adopted a set of Rules of Procedure which entered into force in 1997 (Resolution AGN/65/RES/2). These Rules of Procedure take up, in an orderly manner, all the provisions relating to the General Assembly contained in the Constitution and General Regulations. The Rules also introduce a number of new points and clarify others, such as the examination of delegations' credentials, seating of delegates in the conference hall, the status of Executive Committee members at General Assembly sessions, voting without counting the votes, obligations of the host country and the status of observers.

1. Meetings

The General Assembly meets in ordinary session every year. Any member country may invite the General Assembly to meet on its territory and, at the end of each session, the Assembly chooses, from among the invitations received, where it will meet the following year. The exact date, which is usually sometime in the autumn, is fixed in conjunction with the host country and the President of the Organization, after consultation of the Secretary General. At least four months in advance, member countries receive an official invitation from the host country through diplomatic channels and in the form of a circular from the Secretary General (Articles 10 and 12 of the Constitution, Articles 2 to 7 of the General Regulations).

The General Assembly may also meet in extraordinary session, to discuss a specific matter, at the request of the Executive Committee or at the request of a majority of member countries. In principle, that session is held at the Organization's Headquarters (Articles 14 and 15 of the General Regulations).

2. Organization of work

The Executive Committee draws up the final agenda before the General Assembly session, listing the items in order of urgency and priority. It takes account of the provisional agenda, the contents of which are outlined in Article 10 of the General Regulations, and of any additional items requested by Members (Article 12 of the General Regulations). In accordance with the Organization's practice, this agenda is approved by the General Assembly, which may add urgent items.

The President of the Organization chairs the General Assembly sessions and conducts discussions in accordance with the rules on conduct of business laid down in Articles 26 to 32 of the General Regulations and in the Rules of Procedure.

The General Assembly's secretariat is provided by the Secretary General, the main task being the drafting of summary records of the debates in the form of minutes (Articles 33 and 34 of the General Regulations).

The General Assembly may form any committees it deems necessary and allocate work relating to the various items on the agenda to them (Article 11 of the Constitution, Articles 35 to 38 of the General Regulations). The meetings of such committees are governed by the same rules as plenary sessions of the General Assembly. Each committee reports on its work to the General Assembly through its chairman or a rapporteur it has specially appointed.

In addition, whenever a decision to be taken by the General Assembly involves amendment of the Organization's Constitution or General Regulations or appendices thereto, an ad hoc committee has to be set up to study the project and give its opinion. It is composed of three delegates elected by the Assembly and two persons appointed by the Executive Committee (Article 56 of the General Regulations).

When elections are to be held, the General Assembly sets up an election committee composed of at least three heads of delegation (Article 40 of the General Regulations). The committee examines all nominations, which must be given to them, to determine whether they are valid before submitting them to the General Assembly. The members of the committee also act as scrutineers.

3. Decisions

The General Assembly may only take decisions in plenary session. Such decisions may take the form either of resolutions in accordance with Article 17 of the General Regulations, or may simply be recorded as decisions in the minutes. The latter is the case for the election of officials, decisions about the accession of new members, adoption of the programme of activities for the following year and the choice of the venue for the following General Assembly session.

Resolutions may take various forms: either the text of the draft resolution contains the rules or recommendations to be adopted, or the latter are covered in an appended report which is referred to in the resolution. Reports may be submitted either by the Executive Committee or by the General Secretariat.

When the text of a resolution is to be examined first in committee, it is called a preliminary draft resolution. It becomes a draft resolution when it is subsequently submitted to the General Assembly in plenary session.

Draft resolutions with financial implications have to be initially submitted to the Executive Committee for consideration.

In principle, the General Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority of member countries present and voting (Article 14 of the Constitution and Article 19 of the General Regulations). However, proposed amendments to the Organization's Constitution require a two-thirds majority of Members of the Organization (Article 42 of the Constitution), while certain decisions such as the accession of new members, amendment of the General Regulations and the adoption of appendices thereto (for example, the Financial Regulations) require a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting (Articles 4 and 44 of the Constitution).

Each member country has one vote, which is expressed by the head of its delegation, unless the country has been deprived of its voting rights by virtue of Article 52 of the General Regulations. Voting restrictions do not, however, apply when amendments to the Organization's Constitution are being voted on.

Votes are taken by a show of hands, record vote or secret ballot. Only one round of voting is necessary when a simple majority is required; a second round may be necessary when a two-thirds majority is required (Article 13 of the Constitution and Articles 18, 21 and 22 of the General Regulations).