13 May 2008
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The Organization called the 'INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL POLICE COMMISSION' shall henceforth be entitled: 'THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL POLICE ORGANIZATION - INTERPOL'. Its seat shall be in France.
Its aims are:
It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.
Any country may delegate as a Member to the Organization any official police body whose functions come within the framework of activities of the Organization. The request for membership shall be submitted to the Secretary General by the appropriate governmental authority. Membership shall be subject to approval by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.
The International Criminal Police Organization - INTERPOL shall comprise:
The General Assembly shall be the body of supreme authority in the Organization. It is composed of delegates appointed by the Members of the Organization.
Each Member may be represented by one or several delegates; however, for each country there shall be only one delegation head, appointed by the competent governmental authority of that country. Because of the technical nature of the Organization, Members should attempt to include the following in their delegations:
The functions of the General Assembly shall be the following:
Members shall do all within their power, in so far as is compatible with their own obligations, to carry out the decisions of the General Assembly.
The General Assembly of the Organization shall meet in ordinary session every year. It may meet in extraordinary session at the request of the Executive Committee or of the majority of Members.
Only one delegate from each country shall have the right to vote in the General Assembly.
Decisions shall be made by a simple majority except in those cases where a two-thirds majority is required by the Constitution.
The Executive Committee shall be composed of the President of the Organization, the three Vice-Presidents and nine Delegates. The thirteen members of the Executive Committee shall belong to different countries, due weight having been given to geographical distribution.
The General Assembly shall elect, from among the delegates, the President and three Vice-Presidents of the Organization. A two-thirds majority shall be required for the election of the President; should this majority not be obtained after the second ballot, a simple majority shall suffice. The President and Vice-Presidents shall be from different continents.
The President shall be elected for four years. The Vice-Presidents shall be elected for three years. They shall not be immediately eligible for re-election either to the same posts or as Delegates on the Executive Committee. If, following the election of a President, the provisions of Article 15 (paragraph 2) or Article 16 (paragraph 3) cannot be applied or are incompatible, a fourth Vice-President shall be elected so that all four continents are represented at the Presidency level. If this occurs, the Executive Committee will, for a temporary period, have fourteen members. The temporary period shall come to an end as soon as circumstances make it possible to apply the provisions of Articles 15 and 16.
The President of the Organization shall:
The nine Delegates on the Executive Committee shall be elected by the General Assembly for a period of three years. They shall not be immediately eligible for re-election to the same posts.
The Executive Committee shall meet at least once each year on being convened by the President of the Organization.
In the exercise of their duties, all members of the Executive Committee shall conduct themselves as representatives of the Organization and not as representatives of their respective countries.
The Executive Committee shall:
In case of resignation or death of any of the members of the Executive Committee, the General Assembly shall elect another member to replace him and whose term of office shall end on the same date as his predecessor's. No member of the Executive Committee may remain in office should he cease to be a delegate to the Organization.
Executive Committee members shall remain in office until the end of the session of the General Assembly held in the year in which their term of office expires.
The permanent departments of the Organization shall constitute the General Secretariat.
The General Secretariat shall:
The General Secretariat shall consist of the Secretary General and a technical and administrative staff entrusted with the work of the Organization.
The appointment of the Secretary General shall be proposed by the Executive Committee and approved by the General Assembly for a period of five years. He may be re-appointed for other terms but must lay down office on reaching the age of sixty-five, although he may be allowed to complete his term of office on reaching this age. He must be chosen from among persons highly competent in police matters. In exceptional circumstances, the Executive Committee may propose at a meeting of the General Assembly that the Secretary General be removed from office.
The Secretary General shall engage and direct the staff, administer the budget, and organize and direct the permanent departments, according to the directives decided upon by the General Assembly or Executive Committee. He shall submit to the Executive Committee or the General Assembly any propositions or projects concerning the work of the Organization. He shall be responsible to the Executive Committee and the General Assembly. He shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and all other dependent bodies. In the exercise of his duties, he shall represent the Organization and not any particular country.
In the exercise of their duties, the Secretary General and the staff shall neither solicit nor accept instructions from any government or authority outside the Organization. They shall abstain from any action which might be prejudicial to their international task. Each Member of the Organization shall undertake to respect the exclusively international character of the duties of the Secretary General and the staff, and abstain from influencing them in the discharge of their duties. All Members of the Organization shall do their best to assist the Secretary General and the staff in the discharge of their functions.
In order to further its aims, the Organization needs the constant and active co-operation of its Members, who should do all within their power which is compatible with the legislations of their countries to participate diligently in its activities.
In order to ensure the above co-operation, each country shall appoint a body which will serve as the National Central Bureau. It shall ensure liaison with:
In the case of those countries where the provisions of Article 32 are inapplicable or do not permit of effective centralized co-operation, the General Secretariat shall decide, with these countries, the most suitable alternative means of co-operation.
On scientific matters, the Organization may consult 'Advisers'.
The role of the Advisers shall be purely advisory.
Advisers shall be appointed for three years by the Executive Committee. Their appointment will become definite only after notification by the General Assembly. They shall be chosen from among those who have a world-wide reputation in some field of interest to the Organization.
An Adviser may be removed from office by decision of the General Assembly.
The Organization's resources shall be provided by:
The General Assembly shall establish the basis of Members' subscriptions and the maximum annual expenditure according to the estimate provided by the Secretary General.
The draft budget of the Organization shall be prepared by the Secretary General and submitted for approval to the Executive Committee. It shall come into force after acceptance by the General Assembly. Should the General Assembly not have had the possibility of approving the budget, the Executive Committee shall take all necessary steps according to the general outlines of the preceding budget.
Whenever it deems fit, having regard to the aims and objects provided in the Constitution, the Organization shall establish relations and collaborate with other intergovernmental or non-governmental international organizations. The general provisions concerning the relations with international, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations will only be valid after their approval by the General Assembly. The Organization may, in connection with all matters in which it is competent, take the advice of non-governmental international, governmental national or non-governmental national organizations. With the approval of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee or, in urgent cases, the Secretary General may accept duties within the scope of its activities and competence either from other international institutions or organizations or in application of international conventions.
The present Constitution may be amended on the proposal of either a Member or the Executive Committee. Any proposal for amendment to this Constitution shall be communicated by the Secretary General to Members of the Organization at least three months before submission to the General Assembly for consideration. All amendments to this Constitution shall be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Members of the Organization.
The French, English and Spanish texts of this Constitution shall be regarded as authoritative.
The application of this Constitution shall be determined by the General Assembly through the General Regulations and Appendices, whose provisions shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority.
All bodies representing the countries mentioned in Appendix I shall be deemed to be Members of the Organization unless they declare through the appropriate governmental authority that they cannot accept this Constitution. Such a declaration should be made within six months of the date of the coming into force of the present Constitution.
At the first election, lots will be drawn to determine a Vice-President whose term of office will end a year later. At the first election, lots will be drawn to determine two Delegates on the Executive Committee whose term of office will end a year later, and two others whose term of office will end two years later.
Persons having rendered meritorious and prolonged services in the ranks of the ICPC may be awarded by the General Assembly honorary titles in corresponding ranks of the ICPO.
All property belonging to the International Criminal Police Commission are transferred to the International Criminal Police Organization.
In the present Constitution:
This Constitution shall come into force on 13th June 1956.
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Ceylon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eire, Finland, France, Federal German Republic, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Saar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.
These General Regulations and Appendices have been adopted in accordance with Article 44 of the Constitution of the Organization. Should there be any differences between the two, the Constitution shall prevail.
The General Assembly shall meet every year in ordinary session.
Any Member may, on behalf of its country, invite the Assembly to meet on the territory of that country. If this is impossible, the meeting shall be held at the seat of the Organization.
Any such invitation should be sent to the President before the beginning of the debates of the Assembly.
If the Executive Committee considers that circumstances are unfavourable to the meeting of the Assembly in the place fixed at its previous session, it may decide on another place.
The President shall fix the date when the Assembly is to meet after consulting the authorities of the inviting country and the Secretary General.
The date and place having been decided upon, the notices convening Members shall be sent not less than four months in advance by:
The following may be invited to be present at meetings as observers:
The list of observers shall be drawn up by the Executive Committee and should be approved by the inviting country. The observers mentioned in § (a) shall be jointly invited by the inviting country and the Secretary General, while those mentioned in § (b) only by the Secretary General, after agreement of the Executive Committee and of the inviting country.
The provisional agenda of the meeting shall be drawn up by the Executive Committee and communicated to Members not less than 90 days before the opening of the session.
The provisional agenda shall include:
Any Member may, thirty days before the opening of the session, request that an item be added to the agenda.
Before the opening meeting of the Assembly, the Executive Committee shall form the provisional agenda and the supplement to the agenda into a final agenda in the order of the urgency and priority of the items. The items left over from the previous session shall be deemed to take priority over the items suggested for the coming session.
In so far as is possible, Members shall receive, thirty days before the opening meeting of the session, the information necessary for the examination of reports and items on the agenda.
Extraordinary sessions shall be held, in principle, at the seat of the Organization. An extraordinary session shall be convened, after assent has been given by the President, by the Secretary General as soon as possible and not less than thirty days and no more than ninety days after the request has been made.
In principle, the agenda of an extraordinary session may only include the object for its convening.
Members shall notify the Secretary General as early as possible of the composition of their delegations.
The General Assembly shall make its decisions in plenary session by means of resolutions.
Subject to Article 52 of the General Regulations, each country represented has one vote. Voting shall be performed by the head of the delegation or some other delegate. The representative of one Member may not vote for another Member.
The decisions of the Assembly shall be taken by a simple majority, except where otherwise provided by the Constitution.
The majority shall be decided by a count of those persons present and casting an affirmative or negative vote. Those who abstain may justify their attitude. When the Constitution requires a 'majority of the Members' the calculation of this majority shall be based on the total number of the Members of the Organization, whether they are represented or not at the session of the Assembly.
Voting shall be done by single ballot, except where a two-thirds majority is required. In the latter case, if the required majority is not obtained the first time, a second vote shall be taken.
Voting shall be done by show of hands, record vote or secret ballot. At any time a delegate may request a record vote to be taken except in cases where a secret ballot is required by the Constitution.
Persons composing the Executive Committee shall be elected by secret ballot. If two candidates obtain the same number of votes, a second ballot shall be taken. If this is not decisive, lots shall be drawn to determine which shall be chosen.
Resolutions may be voted on paragraph by paragraph, on the request of any delegate. In such a case, the whole shall subsequently be put to the vote. Only one complete resolution shall be voted on at one time.
When an amendment to a proposal is moved, the amendment shall be voted on first. If there are several amendments, the President shall put them to the vote separately, commencing with the ones furthest removed from the basis of the original proposal.
Meetings of the Assembly and the committees shall not be public, unless otherwise decided by the Assembly.
The Assembly may limit the time to be allowed to each speaker.
When a motion is under discussion, any Member may raise a point of order and this point of order shall be immediately decided by the President. Should this be contested, any delegate may appeal to the Assembly, which shall immediately decide by a vote.
If, during the discussions, a speaker moves the suspension or adjournment of the meeting or the debates, the matter shall immediately be put to the vote.
A delegate may at any time move the closure of the debates. Two speakers opposed to the closure may then speak, after which the Assembly shall decide whether to accede to the motion.
The Assembly may not vote on a draft resolution unless copies of it in all the working languages have been distributed. Amendments and counter-proposals may be discussed immediately unless a majority of Members request that written copies of them shall be distributed first. When a draft resolution has financial consequences, the Executive Committee shall be requested to give its opinion and the discussions postponed.
The Secretary General or his representative may intervene in the discussions at any moment.
Summary records of the debates of the Assembly in the working languages shall be distributed as soon as possible.
The Secretary General shall be responsible for the secretariat work of the Assembly; for this purpose he shall engage the necessary personnel and direct and control them.
Unless otherwise decided by the Assembly, any committee may be consulted between sessions. The President, after consultation with the Secretary General, may summon a com-mittee to meet.
At the end of the ordinary session the Assembly shall fill such vacancies on the Executive Committee as exist, by election of persons chosen amongst the delegates.
At the beginning of each session the General Assembly shall elect at least three heads of delegations who will form the 'Election Committee'. They shall scrutinize the nominations they receive to determine whether they are valid and submit the list of these nominations in alphabetical order to the Assembly. They shall also act as tellers.
If, for any reason whatsoever, the President can no longer perform his duties either during or between sessions, his place shall temporarily be taken by the senior Vice-President. Should all the Vice-Presidents be absent, the duties of President shall provisionally devolve upon a Delegate of the Executive Committee designated by the other members of the Executive Committee.
The Assembly shall elect a Secretary General by secret ballot for a term of office of five years. The candidate for the post of Secretary General shall be proposed by the Executive Committee.
The Secretary General should be or have been a police official. He should preferably be a national of the country in which the seat of the Organization is situated.
The Secretary General's term of office shall commence at the end of the session during which he has been elected and terminate at the end of the session held in the year when his term of office expires. The Secretary General shall be eligible for other terms of office.
Should the Secretary General be unable to carry out his duties, these shall be performed in the interim by the highest-ranking official in the General Secretariat, provided the Executive Committee has no objection.
Advisers may be individually or collectively consulted on the initiative of the Assembly, the Executive Committee, the President or the Secretary General. They may make suggestions of a scientific nature to the General Secretariat or the Executive Committee.
At the request of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee or the Secretary General, reports or papers on scientific matters may be submitted to the Assembly by Advisers.
Advisers may be present at meetings of the General Assembly as observers and, on the invitation of the President, may take part in the discussions.
Several Advisers may be nationals of the same country.
The Advisers may meet when convened by the President of the Organization.
The Financial Regulations shall lay down rules governing:
and shall also contain all relevant general provisions concerning the Organization's financial management.
(Article 52 as it appears above cancels and replaces the text of former Article 52 which had been adopted by General Assembly Resolutions AGN/52/RES/7 and AGN/57/RES/1).
The Staff Regulations shall specify the staff members of the Organization to which they apply, and lay down the rules and procedures governing their management. These rules shall specify the basic conditions of employment and the basic duties and rights of the staff members.
These Regulations and their Appendices may be modified at the request of any Member so long as the suggested modification has been sent to the General Secretariat at least 120 days before the opening of the following session. The Secretary General shall circulate this proposal at least 90 days before the session of the General Assembly. The Secretary General may propose a modification to the General Regulations or their Appendices by circulating his proposal to Members at least 90 days before the session of the General Assembly. During the session, in case of urgent necessity, any modification of the Regulations or their Appendices may be placed before the Assembly provided a written proposal to this effect be submitted jointly by three Members.
The General Assembly shall take a decision on the proposed modification of the Regulations or their Appendices after consultation with an 'ad hoc' committee composed of three delegates elected by the Assembly and two persons appointed by the Executive Committee. This committee shall also be consulted on any proposal for the modification of the Constitution.
-The Constitution and General Regulations of the ICPO-INTERPOL adopted by the General Assembly at its 25th session (Vienna - 1956). -Articles 35 and 36 of the Constitution and Articles 46 and 50 of the General Regulations modified at the 31st session (Madrid - 1962). -Articles 2, 15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution and Articles 41 and 58 of the General Regulations modified at the 33rd session (Caracas - 1964). -Article 58 of the General Regulations modified at the 36th session (Kyoto - 1967). -Articles 52 and 56 of the General Regulations modified at the 37th session (Teheran - 1968). -Article 40 of the General Regulations modified at the 43rd session (Cannes - 1974). -Article 58 of the General Regulations modified at the 44th session (Buenos Aires - 1975). -Article 17 of the Constitution and Article 41 of the General Regulations modified at the 46th session (Stockholm - 1977). -Article 53 of the General Regulations modified at the 52nd session (Cannes - 1983). -Article 1 of the Constitution modified at the 53rd session (Luxembourg - 1984). -At the 54th session (Washington - 1985), the General Regulations were modified as follows: Article 51, rewritten; Article 53 became Article 52; a new Article 53 was added; Articles 52, 54, 55, 56 and 57 were rescinded and Articles 58 to 60 were renumbered 54 to 56. -The English version of Article 53 of the General Regulations was modified; the expression 'Staff Rules' was replaced by 'Staff Regulations'. -Article 52 of the General Regulations modified at the 57th session (Bangkok - 1988). This article, as amended in 1988, was abrogated by the General Assembly at its 65th session (Antalya, 1996) and replaced by a new Article 52 which will enter into force on 1st July 1997. -During the 63rd session (Rome - 1994) it was decided that the 1965 document on INTERPOL's NCB Policy should no longer be appended to the General Regulations. -Articles 11 and 12 of the Constitution and Articles 35, 36 and 37 of the General Regulations modified at the General Assembly's 66th session (New Delhi 1997). -Article 54 of the General Regulations, amended by the General Assembly during its 68th session (Seoul, 1999).
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