OSCE, Alm.del - 2009-10 - Bilag 43: Draft Programme and Pratictical and Procedural Information - Årlige session i Oslo, Norge den 6.

PRACTICAL AND PROCEDURAL INFORMATION19thANNUAL SESSION OF THE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLYOslo, 6 - 10 July 2010This document seeks to give a brief and basic guide to the procedures of the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly and the practical arrangements in view of the 19thAnnual Session to be held in Oslo,Norway from 6 to 10 July 2010. This document is not exhaustive, and should be read in conjunctionwith the Rules of Procedure.General CommitteesThe Rapporteur of each General Committee will present a report, which will form the basis of thedebate in the General Committee. The text of the report is the responsibility of the Rapporteur, andshould be prepared or approved by him or her.The Rapporteur will also present a draft resolution based on the conclusions and recommendations ofthe report. The draft resolution is subject to amendment by Members of the Assembly in accordancewith the provisions of Rule 22(1) of the Rules of Procedure. Amendments should relate to the subjectsaddressed by the Rapporteur in the Draft Resolution.Plenary SessionThe draft Final Document to be debated and considered at the Plenary Session on Saturday 10 July willbe, in principle, a composite of the three resolutions of the General Committees. In the event ofincompatibilities between the texts adopted by the General Committees, a Drafting Committeecomposed of representatives of the three General Committees and others appointed by the President willseek to reconcile them (Rule 39(3)).List of Speakers for General Debate on 9 JulyMembers wishing to speak in the general debate in the Plenary Session on Friday 9 July should entertheir names in a register provided for the purpose in the Table Office at the latest before the opening ofthe sitting. In all cases, the Chair shall determine the order in which Members shall be called to speak.No Member may speak for more than five minutes in the debate (Rule 27(2 and 7)).Election of Officers of the Assembly*Election of the Officers of the Assembly will be held in Plenary on the last day of the Annual Session,10 July. All Officers will be elected by secret ballot (Rule 5(1-3)). In considering proposed candidatesthe Assembly shall take into account the national composition of the Assembly (Rule 4(9)).Under Rule 4(5), candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President must be sponsored inwriting by twenty-five (25) or more Members of the Assembly. Nomination papers should be handed in*For your convenience attached is a list of the Officers of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and itsGeneral Committees.1

atthe Table Office no later than 10.00 a.m. on Friday, 9 July 2010.In accordance with Rule 4(5),the Bureau will verify the candidatures prior to submission to the Assembly.The election will be held on Saturday,10 July 2010 between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.The details ofdistribution of ballot papers and the organisation of the election will be announced at the Oslo Session.Each Member must vote in person.In accordance with Rule 31 (3) “a Member who has an unavoidable obligation to leave the AnnualSession before the day of the election of a President, Vice-President and a Treasurer has the right to voteearlier provided that he or she has notified in writing the Assembly President accordingly. Early votingshall start only when all candidates have been duly nominated”.In accordance with Rule 32 (4) the Chair will appoint three tellers to supervise the elections and countthe ballots. All duly appointed candidates or those that represent them have the right to monitor votingprocedure, the counting of the ballot papers and the tabulation of the votes in all polling places.If the number of the candidates nominated is less or equal to the number of the positions to be filled, thecandidates shall be declared elected by acclamation.

President of the Parliamentary AssemblyThe President will be elected for a period of one year, until the closure of the 2011 Annual Session(Rule 4(6)). The President may be re-elected only once to the same office (Rule 5(6)).The President,Mr. João Soares, who was elected at the Astana Session in 2008 and re-elected at the VilniusSession in 2009, is not eligible for re-election.Therefore,there will be election of a new Presidentin Oslo.In accordance with Rule 5(1) “The President shall be elected by secret ballot and each Member entitledto vote may cast one vote. If, on the first ballot, no candidate has obtained an absolute majority of thevotes cast, a second ballot shall be held between the two candidates who obtain the most votes in thefirst ballot. The candidate who, on the second ballot, obtains the most votes shall be elected. In theevent of a tie, the issue shall be decided by lot.”Vice-Presidents of the Parliamentary Assembly

The procedure for the election of the Vice-Presidents will be the same as that for the election of thePresident (Rule 5(2)). The Assembly will vote on all three positions of Vice-Presidents simultaneously.The three candidates obtaining the greatest number of votes will serve for three years until the end ofthe 2013 Annual Session.TreasurerThe Treasurer shall hold office from the close of the Annual Session in which he/she is elected, to theclose of the second Annual Session thereafter (Rule 4(8)). The Treasurer may be re-elected twice to thesame office (Rule 5(6)).Mr. Roberto Battelli (Slovenia) was elected Treasurer of the Assembly at the 2009 Vilnius AnnualSession and his mandate will conclude at the end of the 2011 Session. Therefore,there will not be anelection of Treasurer in Oslo.

Election of General Committee OfficersGeneral Committees shall elect a Chair, a Vice-Chair and a General Rapporteur, who are the Officers ofGeneral Committees, at the close of the sitting at each Annual Session for the following year (Rule36(5)). Candidates shall be sponsored in writing. Unless the General Committee decides otherwise, theyshall be nominated before the opening of the last scheduled meeting of the General Committee duringthe Annual Session.The General Committee Officers shall be elected by a majority of votes cast in a secret ballot. If nocandidate has obtained a majority, a second ballot shall be held between the two candidates havingobtained the highest number of votes in the first ballot. In the event of a tie, the issue shall be decidedby lot. If there is only one candidate nominated for an office the candidate shall be declared elected byacclamation. In the event of a vacancy arising during the course of the year, the Standing Committeemay appoint a substitute.VotingUnder Rule 32(1), the Assembly shall vote by show of hands except in cases where a roll-call vote orsecret ballot is required. Only affirmative and negative votes shall count in calculating the number ofvotes cast. The number of abstentions shall be recorded.Where the Assembly's accounts show that a Member country has not made its due contribution for aperiod of 9 months, Members of its delegation shall not be allowed to vote until the contribution hasbeen received (Rule 41(5)).

Supplementary Items (Rule 21)1. “The agenda of the Annual Session may be supplemented by an item or a motion on anymatter within the competence of the OSCE, which does not relate directly to subjects proposedby the General Rapporteurs to the three General Committees. Such supplementary item shall bein a form of a draft resolution and it shall be received at the Secretariatat least twenty-one daysbefore the opening of the first plenary sessionwith signatures of at least twenty Membersrepresenting at least four different countries.The first signatory of a supplementary item willbe its principal sponsor. The Standing Committee shall decide by a two-thirds majority of thevotes cast whether to include a supplementary item on the agenda of the Annual Session. TheStanding Committee shall then decide by a majority of votes cast whether to refer asupplementary item to the competent Committee or to submit it to the plenary.

2. If more than one supplementary item is presented on the same issue, the President may askthe principal sponsors of the draft resolutions on the same issue to hold consultations in order topresent a compromise draft resolution. If such a compromise draft resolution is received at theSecretariat at leastfourteen daysbefore the opening of the first plenary session with signaturesof the principal sponsors and at least ten signatories of each of the two or more draft resolutionsin question, it shall be presented to the Annual Session as a supplementary item and all otherdraft resolutions on the same issue shall fall. The principal sponsor of the draft resolution whichwas received first shall be the principal sponsor of the compromise draft resolution. If there isno agreement on a compromise draft resolution, the draft resolution which was received firstshall be presented to the Annual Session and others on the same issue shall fall.

AmendmentsParagraph 1 of Rule 22 (Amendments) of the Rules of Procedure states:“Amendments to the draft resolutions presented by the General Rapporteurs or to supplementaryitems shall be submitted in writing and signed by at least five Members representing at least twoOSCE countries. Amendments to the draft resolutions prepared by the General Rapporteursshall be received at the Secretariat with the required signatures at least fourteen days before theopening of the first plenary session. Amendments to supplementary items shall be received atthe Secretariat with the required signatures at least seven days before the opening of the firstplenary session. The first signatory of an amendment will be its principal sponsor.4

Members are also reminded of certain other provisions of Rule 22 (Amendments) of the Rules ofProcedure:-The Amendments will be considered in the same Committee in which the resolution, orsupplementary item, to which the Amendment relates, is considered. The Chair of theCommittee shall decide whether the Amendment is in order. If the Chair decides that theAmendment is not in order because it is not relevant to the Committee’s area of competence oris not a compromise amendment in accordance with Rule 23, any sponsor of that Amendmentmay refer the matter to the President. The President will determine which Committee iscompetent to deal with the Amendment.;each amendment may only relate to one paragraph;amendments may be grouped for discussion;where there are two or more amendments relating to the same paragraph, the amendments shallbe voted in the following order:- amendments to delete the entire paragraph;- amendments to delete part of the paragraph;- amendments that amend the paragraph;- amendments that add to the paragraphDelegations are particularly requested NOT to present amendments which incorporate or re-order largesections of the original Rapporteur’s text. It is necessary in order to allow proper debate that anyamendments be addressed specifically to individual paragraphs of the Rapporteur’s text. Amendmentsshould not take the form of alternative resolutions.Compromise Amendments“A compromise amendment may be submitted in writing and signed by at least ten Members,representing at least three OSCE countries, including at least two principal sponsors ofamendments already submitted in accordance with Rule 22 on the same issue to the same draftresolution. Any compromise amendment shall be submitted no later than 10 a.m. on the daybefore the Assembly or relevant Committee starts consideration of amendments.” (Rule 23,paragraph 1)

Urgency (Rule 26):1. Questions of urgency may be placed on the agenda of the Assembly at anytime on the proposal of the Standing Committee, or in the absence of ameeting of the Standing Committee, on the proposal of the Bureau. Suchquestions of urgency must be pertinent to the OSCE process and relate to anevent, which has taken place or come to public knowledge less than twenty-four days before the opening of the first plenary session.2. Such question of urgency shall be in a form of a draft resolution and it shallbe signed by at least twenty-five Members representing at least ten countries.The first signatory of the draft resolution shall be the principal sponsor of thequestion of urgency.3. In the event of the Standing Committee or the Bureau deciding not torecommend the inclusion of such an item on the agenda, the proposers shallhave the right to appeal in writing to the Assembly, which may decide by amajority of two thirds of the Members of the Assembly to place the proposalon the agenda.

OFFICERS OF THE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLYMEMBERS OF THE BUREAUNameMr João SoaresMr Jerry GrafsteinMr Kimmo KiljunenMs Isabel PozueloMr Kassym-Jomart TokayevMs Pia Christmas-MøllerMr Wolfgang GrossruckMr Petros EfthymiouMr Benjamin CardinMr Jean-Charles GardettoMr Roberto BattelliMr Göran LennmarkerCountryPortugalCanadaFinlandSpainKazakhstanDenmarkAustriaGreeceU.S.A.MonacoSloveniaSwedenPositionPresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentTreasurerPresidentEmeritusTermTo end 2010SessionTo end 2010SessionTo end 2010SessionTo end 2010SessionTo end 2011SessionTo end 2011SessionTo end 2011SessionTo end 2012SessionTo end 2012SessionTo end 2012SessionTo end 2011SessionTo end 2010Session