OBJECTIVES

1.         Providing a framework for realization of fruitful and constructive cooperation among the PUIC General Secretariats.

2.         Enhancing meetings of PUIC Secretaries General in the domain of the Member Parliaments.

3.         Exchanging practical and scientific experiences aimed at promoting and upgrading performance of the General Secretariats of Member Parliaments.

4.         Supporting contact, cooperation and coordination among the General Secretariats of the Member Parliaments aimed at achieving common goals.

5.         Opening channels of communication between the Association of PUIC Secretaries General and similar organs in regional and International Parliamentary unions aimed at exchanging expertise and experiences, finding training opportunities and upgrading level of performance.

COMPOSITION

Article 1:

1. The Association of PUIC Secretaries General shall be composed of PUIC Secretaries General of Member Parliaments or their representatives.

SESSIONS

Article 2:

1. The Association of PUIC Secretaries General shall convene once a year simultaneously with the annual PUIC Conference.
2. The Association may, upon the request of any of its members and the approval of five Secretariats General, hold additional meetings at the sidelines of international and regional meetings in which the PUIC Member Parliaments participate

Article 3:

1. The Association of PUIC Secretaries General shall submit its proposals to the PUIC Conference for adoption.

Article 4:

1. Letters of convocation of the Association shall be sent to all the Member Parliaments, in adequate time.

Article 5:

1. The Parliament hosting the Meeting of the Association shall be responsible for providing all necessary facilities for the Meeting.

Article 6:

1. Any member of the Association may request to host an extraordinary meeting. In case of the approval of the majority of members of the Association, the chairman of the Association shall convene the extraordinary meeting.

CHAIRMANSHIP

Article 7:

1. The chairperson of the delegation of the host country shall be elected as chairman of the meeting and the new session.
2. The outgoing chairperson shall open the session pending the election of chairperson of the new session.
3. The Association shall elect a Bureau composed of two Vice-Chairpersons from among the heads of delegation, from two different geographical regions. The Bureau shall, with the assistance of the PUIC Secretary General, or his deputy, run the proceedings of the Meeting.

Article 8:

1. The Chairperson of the session shall preside over extraordinary sessions and those held on the sidelines of the regional or international meetings during the term of his/her office.
2. In case of the absence of the Chairperson of the session, the Vice Chairperson from the geographical region due to host the next meeting of the Association shall assume the responsibility.

Article 9:

1. The Chairperson shall open, adjourn and conclude the sittings, he shall also direct the work of the Association, call on speakers to take the floor and put subjects to vote. The Chairperson's decisions in these matters are final and shall be accepted without debate.
2. The Chairperson shall decide on all matters not covered by these Articles after taking the advice of the Bureau of the meeting and the PUIC Secretary General.

COMMITTEES

Article 10:

1. The Association may, if necessary, set up its committees from among its members or other subsidiary bodies as required to examine the items on its agenda. These bodies shall submit their reports and recommendations to the Bureau of the Association.
2. The Bureau of the Association, assisted by the PUIC Secretary General, shall take the necessary measures to ensure effective organization and smooth functioning of the debates.

AGENDA

Article 11:

1. The General Secretariat, in coordination with the Chairperson of the Association, shall draw up the Draft Agenda of the Association to be submitted to the PUIC Executive Committee.
2. The PUIC Secretary General shall send the Draft Agenda to all PUIC Member Parliaments together with the preparatory Documents of the PUIC Conference.
3. The Association may amend or adopt the proposed Draft Agenda.
4. The Association shall adopt its Agenda at the beginning of its first sitting.
5. The extraordinary Meeting shall only consider the item(s) for which it is convened.

Article 12:

1. Members of the Association may submit to the PUIC General Secretariat proposals to amend or include supplementary item(s) in the Draft Agenda not later than two months before the annual PUIC Conference. An explanatory Note and a draft resolution should be attached to the proposals.

Article 13:

1. The meeting shall be opened with recitation of verses of the Holy Quran.
2. The Secretary General or his deputy shall open the first sitting.
3. The annual report, submitted by the Association’s Bureau shall be the basis for the general debates, with which the Meeting initiates its discussions.

SPEAKING-ORDER-PROPOSALS

Article 14:

1. No member may speak without the permission of the Chairperson.
2. Members of the Association shall speak in the order in which they request the floor.
3. Any member shall not interrupt a speaker except on a point of order.
4. The Chairperson shall rule immediately, and without debate, on all points of order.

Article 15:

1. The Chairperson shall call a Speaker to order when the latter does not keep to the subject under discussion or prejudice the debate by using abusive language. The Chairperson may, if necessary, withdraw permission to speak and may have the objectionable expressions omitted from the record.

Article 16:

1. The Chairperson shall address immediately any incident which may arise during the meeting, and, if necessary, take any measure required to restore order to the working of the Meeting of the Association.

Article 17:

1. Procedural proposals shall have precedence of priority over substantive issues; debate on the latter shall be suspended while the former are being considered.
2. In debate of procedural proposals, only the mover of the proposal or one delegate holding a contrary opinion shall be heard.

QUORUM – CONSENSUS- VOTING

Article 18:

1. The Meeting of the Association shall be convened with its members present or their deputies.

Article 19:

1. All resolutions and decisions shall be adopted by consensus. Otherwise they shall be adopted by a two-third majority of the votes of Member Parliaments participating in the first plenary session of the Meeting of the Association.

Article 20:

1. Voting may not take place except with the presence, of not less than half the number of delegations participating in the meeting.
2. The Meeting of the Association shall normally vote by a show of hands, standing and sitting. However, if the Chairperson deems it necessary or a member of the Association so requested, a vote by roll call or secret ballot may be taken.
3. In case of voting, only positive and negative votes shall be taken into consideration.

Article 21:

1. The members of the Association shall vote on texts submitted by the other committees and bodies without debate on the substance of these subjects.
2. No debate may be opened, or any position on voting taken, on a question which the Association has already examined or taken a decision thereon.

Article 22:

1. Nobody may interrupt voting once it has commenced, except to obtain clarification as to the manner in which the voting is being conducted.
2. Delegates who wish to explain briefly their position on voting may be permitted to do so by the Chairperson, after voting has taken place.
3. No explanation on voting shall be admissible on amendments and procedural proposals.

AMENDMENTS

Article 23:

1. Any member of the delegation may submit amendment to the proposals or draft resolutions, as well as sub-amendments.
2. Amendments shall be submitted in writing. Amendments and sub-amendments may be submitted until the Association adopts the texts to which they relate.

Article 24:

1. Amendments and sub-amendments shall be related to the text.
2. Amendments and sub-amendments shall be voted on before adoption of the text to which they relate.

SECRETARIAT OF THE ASSOCIATION’s MEETING

Article 25:

1. The Secretary General shall be responsible for the secretariat of the Association’s meeting. The Secretary General or his representative shall assist the Chairperson in directing the work of the Meeting.
2. The Secretary General or his representative may, at any time, at the request of the Chairperson, offer advice on any subject under consideration by the meeting of the Association.

Article 26:

1. The Secretary General shall, within three months, dispatch to the Member Parliaments, all documents related to the Meeting of the Association.
2. The Parliament of the host country shall provide interpretation of the debates in the working languages of the PUIC (Arabic-English-French).

Article 27:

1. The PUIC General Secretariat shall preserve the documents of the meeting of the Association in its archives.
2. The General Secretariat shall publish and circulate the summary record of the proceedings before the convening of the next Meeting of the Association.

CLOSING THE MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION

Article 28:

1. At the close of the Meeting the Chairperson shall read out the principal resolutions which have been adopted.
2. Delegations shall inform their respective parliaments of the resolutions, decisions and recommendations adopted by the Meeting of the Association with a view to obtaining the most active possible support for the implementation of these resolutions and recommendations.

ADOPTION OF RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE ASSOCIATION

Article 29:

1. The Association shall adopt and amend the Rules of Procedure by a two-third majority of members of the Association participating and voting.
2. Proposals for amending the Rules of Procedure of the Association shall be formulated in writing and sent to the General Secretariat at least two months before the Association meets. The General Secretariat shall forward such proposals to all the Member Parliaments. It shall also, if necessary, send to the Member Parliaments any proposals on sub-amendments, at least one month before the convening of the Association.
3. Consideration of any request to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Association shall be included automatically in the agenda of the meeting of the Association.

Article 30:

1. The Association may, on the request of a member parliament, amend the Rules of Procedure.

2-      Amendment(s) shall not come into force unless adopted by the PUIC Conference.