Chapter VI: Conduct of Business
Rule 27
The President shall call upon representatives in the order in which they signify their desire to speak.
Rule 28
The Security Council may appoint a commission or committee or a rapporteur for a specified question.
Rule 29
The President may accord precedence to any rapporteur appointed by the Security Council.
The Chairman of a commission or committee, or the rapporteur appointed by the commission or committee to present its report, may be accorded precedence for the purpose of explaining the report.
Rule 30
If a representative raises a point of order, the President shall immediately state his ruling. If it is challenged, the President shall submit his ruling to the Security Council for immediate decision and it shall stand unless overruled.
Rule 31
Proposed resolutions, amendments and substantive motions shall normally be placed before the representatives in writing.
Rule 32
Principal motions and draft resolutions shall have precedence in the order of their submission.
Parts of a motion or of a draft resolution shall be voted on separately at the request of any representative, unless the original mover objects.
Rule 33
The following motions shall have precedence in the order named over all principal motions and draft resolutions relative to the subject before the meeting:
- To suspend the meeting;
- To adjourn the meeting;
- To adjourn the meeting to a certain day or hour;
- To refer any matter to a committee, to the Secretary-General or to a rapporteur;
- To postpone discussion of the question to a certain day or indefinitely; or
- To introduce an amendment.
Any motion for the suspension or for the simple adjournment of the meeting shall be decided without debate.
Rule 34
It shall not be necessary for any motion or draft resolution proposed by a representative on the Security Council to be seconded before being put to a vote.
Rule 35
A motion or draft resolution can at any time be withdrawn so long as no vote has been taken with respect to it.
If the motion or draft resolution has been seconded, the representative on the Security Council who has seconded it may require that it be put to the vote as his motion or draft resolution with the same right of precedence as if the original mover had not withdrawn it.
Rule 36
If two or more amendments to a motion or draft resolution are proposed, the President shall rule on the order in which they are to be voted upon. Ordinarily, the Security Council shall first vote on the amendment furthest removed in substance from the original proposal and then on the amendment next furthest removed until all amendments have been put to the vote, but when an amendment adds to or deletes from the text of a motion or draft resolution, that amendment shall be voted on first.
Rule 37
Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council may be invited, as the result of a decision of the Security Council, to participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council when the Security Council considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected, or when a Member brings a matter to the attention of the Security Council in accordance with Article 35 (1) of the Charter.
Rule 38
Any Member of the United Nations invited in accordance with the preceding rule, or in application of Article 32 of the Charter, to participate in the discussions of the Security Council may submit proposals and draft resolutions. These proposals and draft resolutions may be put to a vote only at the request of a representative on the Security Council.
Rule 39
The Security Council may invite members of the Secretariat or other persons, whom it considers competent for the purpose, to supply it with information or to give other assistance in examining matters within its competence.