This document seeks to give a brief and basic guide to the procedures of the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly and the practical arrangements in view of the 20thAnnual Session to be held in Belgrade,Serbia from 6 to 10 July 2011. This document is not exhaustive, and should be read in conjunctionwith the Rules of Procedure. Please note that following the Standing Committee decision in Viennato amend the OSCE PA Rules of Procedure, there is an updated version of the Rules of Procedure,which is dated 25 March 2011.General CommitteesThe Rapporteur of each General Committee will present a report which will form the basis of the debatein the General Committee. The text of the report is the responsibility of the Rapporteur, and should beprepared or approved by him or her.The Rapporteur will also present a draft resolution based on the report. The draft resolution, but not thereport, is subject to amendment by Members of the Assembly in accordance with the provisions of Rule22, paragraph 1 of the Rules of Procedure. Amendments should, therefore, relate only 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 Sunday, 10 July willbe, in principle, a composite of the three resolutions of the three 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, paragraph 3).List of Speakers for General Debate on 9 JulyMembers wishing to speak in the general debate in the Plenary Session on Saturday, 9 July should entertheir names in a register provided for that 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.Unless the Chair decides to grant additional time, no Member may speak for more than five minutes inthe debate (Rule 27, paragraph 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, paragraphs 1-4). In considering proposedcandidates the Assembly shall take into account the national composition of the Assembly (Rule 4,paragraph 9).Under Rule 4, paragraph 5 candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President must be sponsoredin writing by twenty-five (25) or more Members of the Assembly. Nomination papers should be handedin atthe Table Office no later than 10.00 a.m. on Saturday, 9 July 2011.In accordance with Rule 4,paragraph 5 the Bureau will verify the candidatures prior to submission to the Assembly.*For your convenience attached is a list of the Officers of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its GeneralCommittees.1

The election will be held on Sunday,10 July 2011 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 BelgradeSession. Each Member must vote in person.In accordance with Rule 31, paragraph 3 “a Member who has an unavoidable obligation to leave theAnnual Session before the day of the election of a President, Vice-President and a Treasurer has theright to vote earlier, provided that he or she has notified the Assembly President accordingly in writing.Early voting shall start only when all candidates have been duly nominated”.In accordance with Rule 32, paragraph 4 the Chair will appoint three tellers to supervise the electionsand count the ballots. All duly appointed candidates or those that represent them have the right tomonitor voting procedure, the counting of the ballot papers and the tabulation of the votes in all pollingplaces.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 2012 Annual Session(Rule 4, paragraph 6). The President may be re-elected only once to the same office (Rule 5, paragraph6). The President, Mr. Petros Efthymiou, who was elected at the Oslo Session in 2010, is eligible for re-election.In accordance with Rule 5, paragraph 1 “The President shall be elected by secret ballot and eachMember entitled to vote may cast one vote. If, on the first ballot, no candidate has obtained an absolutemajority of the votes cast, a second ballot shall be held between the two candidates who obtain the mostvotes in the first ballot. The candidate who, on the second ballot, obtains the most votes shall be elected.In the event of a tie, the issue shall be decided by lot.”Vice-Presidents of the Parliamentary AssemblyIn Belgrade there are expected to be elections for three Vice-Presidents for three years until theend of the 2014 Annual Session.In accordance with Rule 5, paragraphs 6 and 7:Vice-President Wolfgang Grossruck (Austria): elected in Astana in 2008 is eligible for re-election.Vice-President Pia Christmas-Møller (Denmark): elected in Washington in 2005 and re-elected inAstana in 2008 is not eligible for re-election.Vice-President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhstan): elected in Astana in 2008 is eligible for re-election.The Vice-Presidents may be re-elected once to the same office (Rule 5, paragraph 6). A Vice-Presidentwho has served less than two three year terms is eligible for re-election (Rule 5, paragraph 7). TheAssembly will vote on all three positions of Vice-Presidents simultaneously. The three candidates2

obtaining the greatest number of votes will serve for three years until the end of the 2014 AnnualSession (Rule 4, paragraph 7).TreasurerThe Treasurer shall hold office from the close of the Annual Session in which he or she is elected to theclose of the second Annual Session thereafter (Rule 4, paragraph 8). The Treasurer may be re-electedtwice to the same office (Rule 5, paragraph 6).Mr. Roberto Battelli (Slovenia) was elected Treasurer of the Assembly at the 2009 Vilnius AnnualSession and is eligible for re-election.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 (Rule 36,paragraph 5). Candidates shall be sponsored in writing. Unless the General Committee decidesotherwise, they shall be nominated before the opening of the last scheduled meeting of the GeneralCommittee during the 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, paragraph 1 the Assembly shall vote by show of hands except in cases where a roll-callvote or secret ballot is required. Only affirmative and negative votes shall count in calculating thenumber of votes 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, paragraph 5).

the form of a draft resolution with signatures of at least twenty Members representing at leastfour different countries. The first signatory of a supplementary item will be its principal sponsor.A supplementary item must be received by the Secretariat after the General Rapporteurshave submitted their reports, but at least 35 days before the opening of the first plenarysession.The Standing Committee shall decide by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast whetherto include a supplementary item on the agenda of the Annual Session. The Standing Committeeshall then decide by a majority of votes cast whether to refer a supplementary item to thecompetent 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 theSecretariatat least fourteen days before the opening of the first plenary sessionwithsignatures of the principal sponsors and at least ten signatories of each of the two or more draftresolutions in question, it shall be presented to the Annual Session as a supplementary item andall other draft resolutions on the same issue shall fall. The principal sponsor of the draftresolution which was received first shall be the principal sponsor of the compromise draftresolution. If there is no agreement on a compromise draft resolution, the draft resolution whichwas received first shall be presented to the Annual Session and others on the same issue shallfall.

AmendmentsParagraph 1 of Rule 22 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 signaturesat least fourteen days beforethe opening of the first plenary session.Amendments to supplementary items shall bereceived at the Secretariat with the required signaturesat least seven days before the openingof the first plenary session.The first signatory of an amendment will be its principal sponsor.

separately.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;if two or more Amendments relate to the same paragraph, they will be voted upon to thefollowing order:- Amendments to delete the entire paragraph;- Amendments to delete part of the paragraph;- Amendments that modify the paragraph;- Additional Amendments that insert new paragraph;-the Chair may group the Amendments for discussion

Delegations 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 ASSEMBLY

MEMBERS OF THE BUREAUNameMr Petros EfthymiouMr Wolfgang GrossruckMs Pia Christmas-MøllerMr Kassym-Jomart TokayevMr Jean-Charles GardettoMr Oleh BilorusMr Benjamin CardinMr Riccardo MiglioriMr Alexander KozlovskiyMs Isabel PozueloMr Roberto BattelliMr João SoaresCountryGreeceAustriaDenmarkKazakhstanMonacoUkraineUSAItalyRussianFederationSpainSloveniaPortugalPositionPresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentVice-PresidentTreasurerPresidentEmeritusTermTo end 2011 SessionTo end 2011 SessionTo end 2011 SessionTo end 2011 SessionTo end 2012 SessionTo end 2012 SessionTo end 2012 SessionTo end 2013 SessionTo end 2013 SessionTo end 2013 SessionTo end 2011 SessionTo end 2011 Session