General Roles of Procedure

Rule1
1.1 Official Language: English will be the official and working language of the IIMEU 2011. 1.2 Dress and conduct. In the spirit of the simulation, rules on dress and conduct are the same as those which apply at an actual EU summit: formal attire, and behavior in keeping with that which would prevail at a summit of the leaders of democratic states. 1.3 Rules of procedure. These vary by institution; please refer to the appropriate section in this Guide. NOTE: Unlike Model UNs, we use a minimum of formal procedures. In cases where interpretation and elaboration of the rules in this Guide are needed, the members of the Secretariat will be the final authority. 1.4 Badges. Every delegate will be issued with a badge at Registration on Day One, and should wear this at all times during the simulation.

Rule 2
2.1 Power of the Director: Ultimate power to oversee, direct and run each meeting will be vested in the Director, who will have the sole power to open and close sessions, recognize speakers, set time limits on speakers and debates, control discussion and debate, and maintain order. The Director must make every effort to be fair, to avoid partisan behavior of any kind, to ensure the smooth flow of proceedings, to simulate as closely as possible the work of actual EU institutions, and to make sure that all discussions are relevant and as productive as possible.

2.2 The Assistant Director shall be responsible for overseeing the entire resolution process and approving draft resolutions. He or she must make sure that delegates are writing resolutions in the proper format and staying in character. In addition, the Assistant Director moderates proceedings when deemed necessary by the Director. 2.3 The Rapporteur is responsible for keeping the committee in order by maintaining the speakers' list, calling roll, and tracking all resolutions and votes. In addition, the Rapporteur is responsible for communications between the dais and the Senior Secretariat. 2.4 Statements by the Secretariat: The Director-General or a member of the Secretariat may at any time make either written or oral statements to the committee. 2.5 Responsibilities of delegates. All delegates must attend all scheduled meetings. Any delegate who cannot avoid missing all or a substantial part of a meeting (i.e., more than ten minutes) must register their anticipated absence with the Director in advance. They may appoint an alternate (who will have the powers and responsibilities of the delegate), or they may give their vote to another delegate. Either way, they should inform the Director through a Point of Personal Privilege, otherwise they will lose all voting rights during their absence. Delegates are encouraged to remain seated throughout each meeting, but may leave the chamber for short periods without the permission of the Director.

2.6 Disruptive behavior. Delegates should remember at all times the importance of the three Cs - Cooperation, Compromise, and Consensus. All delegates must at all times behave in accordance with the norms prevailing in a meeting among representatives of democratic governments, and should avoid any kind of disruptive behavior, defined as behavior that interferes with the flow of the work of the meeting. In the event of disruptive behavior by a delegate, the Director may issue a formal warning to that delegate. If the delegate fails to co-operate after two formal warnings, the Director may require the delegate to be silent for a specified time, or (as a last resort) may order the delegate to be expelled from the meeting chamber for a specified time. A silenced delegate may vote, but any delegate expelled from a meeting will lose all voting rights for the duration of his/her absence. It is left to the Director to define "disruptive behavior", but it may include open hostility, verbal abuse, constant interruption, raising of voices, delaying tactics, sleeping, a refusal to follow the rules of procedure, a refusal to co- operate in decision-making, or consulting with another delegate in a manner that interferes with the smooth flow of the meeting. 2.7 Votes of no confidence in the Executive Board While it is understood that all meetings at IIMEU will be run on the basis of mutual respect and understanding, it may be necessary in extraordinary circumstances - and solely as a last resort - to censure or remove the Executive Board. If a delegate feels that the any member of the Executive Board or the Executive Board as whole is not giving fair time to all delegates, is being excessively partisan, is failing to keep order, is clearly failing to maintain the smooth progress of the meeting, or is otherwise failing to fulfill his/her duties in the best interests of the meeting, that delegate may as a last resort - call for a vote of no confidence.

If another delegate seconds the motion, it will immediately be put to a vote, and requires the support of at least two-thirds of the delegates present to be successful. If the vote goes against the Executive Board, the IIMEU OC may issue a verbal caution, remove the concerned member of the executive board from the meeting room for a specified time, or arrange temporary or permanent replacement of the member by an alternate. This will be decided either by consensus, or by a verbal vote, with each delegate having one vote, and a simple majority prevailing. No more than two votes of no-confidence may be called in any one meeting, and no one delegate may make such a call more than once during IIMEU 2011 Conference. If the Director is removed through a vote of no confidence, his/her duties will be carried out for the duration of his/her removal by the designated Asst. Director of the forum.

Rule 3
3.1 Roll Call (Quorum) The first order of business for each of session will be to establish roll and a quorum. This is done by the Director at the beginning of the each individual session and does not require a motion. The Director may record absentees informally by referring to seats left vacant. The Director may also call on countries to identify them as present. (Note: there is no present and voting) If member state representatives will be delayed temporarily for some reason, courtesy requires that they notify the Director beforehand.

3.2 Voting Procedures Where votes are taken, they should normally be open, and made by roll call in order of seating, and recorded by the Asst. Director. Voting will be verbal and expressed either as "Yes, No" or Abstain. Representatives of Accredited Observers and of Non-Member States will have the same rights as those of full members, except that they may not vote on any substantive issues. Once a vote has been declared open, no-one will be allowed to speak other than to cast their vote. Once all votes have been cast, the Asst. Director will tally the vote and immediately announce the result. The decision of the Asst. Director a tally will be final. 3.2.1 Voting on procedural issues (e.g., adjournments, informal debate) requires a simple majority of the delegates present in the session including Presidency. One member, one vote! 3.2.2 Voting on matters of the agenda (sequence, division, combination of agenda items, tabling and delegating the agenda as well as opening and closing debate) requires a simple majority. The Director of the European Committee may vote. One member, one vote! 3.2.3 Voting on substantive issues, such as resolutions, requires consensus. Note: there is no present and voting; or present rule in the EU!

3.3 Speaking. Any delegate wishing to address any meeting must raise his/her hand and be recognized by the Director. Verbal requests are not acceptable, nor are speaking out of turn. Delegates must remain seated while speaking. Speakers may not be interrupted by anyone but the Director or specified otherwise. 3.4 Laptops and cell phones. The use of laptops and cell phones is strictly prohibited during the formal debate, moderated and the unmoderated caucus. 3.5 Visitors and Guests: Anyone may visit any meeting during a session, observe the proceedings, and come and go as they wish, but may not address the meeting unless expressly asked to by the Director, nor address other visitors in anything above a whisper, nor disturb the meeting in any way. Faculty advisors may coach and assist delegates only outside formal meetings. They may visit meeting rooms and observe meetings, and they may confer briefly with delegates, but they cannot interfere with, interrupt or address any meeting, cannot overrule Directors, have no voting rights, and should avoid conferring with delegates in a meeting chamber during a scheduled meeting. Above all, they should avoid giving advice on procedures and general goals, leaving this to the discretion of the Secretariat. 3.6 Arbitration and the Secretariat. In the event of problems, conflicts, or questions over procedure, the Executive Board may call for arbitration by a member of the Secretariat, whose decision will be final. In extraordinary circumstances, the Secretariat may replace any member of the Executive Board. A member of the Secretariat may - having given due notice to the Director - briefly interrupt any meeting on a Point of Order or a Point of Information. 3.7 Amendments to the rules. None of these rules may be changed except by the IIMEU OC.

Rule 4
4.1 A debate consists of introductory statements, general debate on the topic, debate on specific amendments, and voting on amendments. 4.2 Types of Debate and Right to Speak: There are three types of debate: 4.2.1 Speakers List: a. Every member who wishes to make a statement during a debate with a Speakers List must ask to be added to the list by raising their placard when the Director invites members to do so, or by submitting a note to the dais requesting to be added to the Speakers List. b. The Director can limit the number of speakers permitted beforehand. He/she can also close the Speakers List at any time. c. The Director will call upon the members on the Speakers List when their turn comes. d. The speaking time is usually two minute. The Director can announce a change of the time limit for a set of speakers or for individual speakers at his/her discretion. Motions to extend or limit the speaking time are also in order.

e. When a speaker has concluded their remarks, he or she will be asked by the Director whether he or she is open to questions or brief comments from other members. The speaker has the right not to answer any question and to refuse comments. The Director and the speaker can limit the number of questions and comments. The time limit for each comment or question is thirty seconds. The time limit for each reply from the original speaker is also thirty seconds. f. Members who wish to pose a question or make a comment to a speaker on their remarks must raise their placard when the Director elicits such from the Committee. g. When the member has concluded his question or comment, the Director will ask the speaker to answer the question or will give him/her the opportunity to reply to the short remark. The Director can also decide not to give the speaker the opportunity to answer. h. If speakers whose names have been duly entered on the list and who are actually present, are not able to speak due to lack of time, they have the right to hand in the text of their speech to the Director in writing, in a final and legible form, provided that it does not exceed the speaking time they would have been allowed. A 2-minute speech is normally equal to 1 page. The Director may issue a summary of the speeches of those speakers at the end of debate.

4.2.2 Motion to refer to an issue a. A Moderated Caucus can be proposed by the Director and the Members of the committees at all times by a Motion to refer to an issue, specifying the time limit for this discussion, the time limit for the speaking times, and the topic for discussion. A delegate would say <Country Name> like to refer to the issue of <mention the issue>. b. During a Moderated Caucus, members are expected to remain in the room and follow the discussions. c. The Director moderates the discussion, though no questions or comments are allowed on remarks made during the motion. d. The Director shall alert the Members when the motion is reaching its time limit. 4.2.3 Unmoderated Caucus: a. An Unmoderated Caucus can be proposed by the Director and the Members of the Committees at all times by a Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus, specifying the time limit of this informal discussion. The time limit may not exceed 20 minutes. b. During an Unmoderated Caucus, members shall remain in the room, if possible. The Director does not moderate and the discussion is unofficial.

4.3 Temporary Adjournment A Director or a delegate may call for a temporary adjournment of a meeting for a specified time (no more than ten minutes), and (if necessary) be given a maximum of one minute to explain his/her rationale. If at least two other delegates second the motion, it will immediately be put to a vote, and requires the support of at least a simple majority to succeed. The Director determines the length and will allow no more than TWO temporary adjournments within a 60-minute period. No one delegate may call for an adjournment more than once in any one meeting. A delegate would say <Country Name> moves to have a temporary adjournment for the purpose of an informal consultation.

4.4 Procedural Points 4.4.1 Point of Information: This must be confined to raising questions of procedure or regarding a ruling from the Director. If the right to raise procedural points is misused, the Director may forbid the offending member to speak for the remainder of the item of business. 4.4.2 Point of Order: A member may raise a point of order if he/she has legitimate reason to believe that a breach of the rules of procedure has occurred. The point of order should only be phrased to draw attention to the concern and will be addressed accordingly by the Director.

4.4.3 Point of Personal Privilege: A member may raise a point of personal privilege when experiencing discomfort, such as not being able to hear another members speech. This point can be raised without the Director asking for points and motions. This is the only point that may interrupt a speaker. 4.4.4 Right of Reply: A member may raise a right of reply immediately following the remarks of another member if he/she feels that these remarks insulted his/her dignity or national honour. The Director shall immediately rule whether the right of reply is valid and whether the remarks could have been reasonably considered insulting or offensive. The remarks granted to the offended member under a right of reply must be respectful and intended to challenge any perceived defamation, lasting no more than thirty seconds. 4.4.5 Verification of Quorum: A member may raise a verification of quorum if he/she believes that a significant portion of the Committee is missing for debate. The Director has the right to regard this as a dilatory point. If the point does appear to be valid, a head count will be conducted to determine the new quorum. All future votes on procedural motions will account for this revised quorum. 4.4.6 Plea to follow up: If a delegate feels unsatisfied or feels that question put forward by him was not answered; the delegate can raise a Plea to follow up stating. The Director may reject a plea to follow up.

4.5 Order of Precedence of Points In case of one or more point or motion submitted at once, the order of precedence shall be as follows: -Point of Personal Privilege -Point of Order -Point of Information -Right of Reply -Verification of Quorum -Plea to follow up 4.6 Motions Motions can be used to combine or divide agenda items, to table an issue, or to refer an issue to a committee for further study. Motions are also in order (determined always by the Director) to close debate on an issue and bring it to a vote. Motions are always subject to a second by two delegates and are brought to a vote immediately. The following are the procedural motions that may be entertained in the Committee: 4.6.1 Motion for a Moderated Caucus A member may make a Motion for a Moderated Caucus to allow for a deeper examination of a particular clause or provision under the topic for debate. The Director can either approve the motion or put it a vote. A simple majority is required to adopt the motion. Furthermore, in order for the motion to be valid, it must be made with a proposed overall time limit, a proposed limit for speaking times, and a topic. 4.6.2 Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus A member may make a Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus so that disputed points can be clarified in an informal setting. The Director can either approve the motion or put it to a vote. A simple majority is required. The Director also has the possibility to declare a temporary adjournment of the session without a motion from a member.

4.6.3 Motion to Close Debate A member may make a Motion to Close Debate, whether that be to close the general debate, to close debate on the amendments, or to close the debate on a specific amendment. If there are no immediate objections to the motion, it should be put to a vote. One member may speak in favour and one member may speak against the motion. A two-thirds majority is required. Once a motion for closure of debate has passed, the debate will be closed immediately and none of the speakers still on the list of speakers will have the possibility to issue their remarks. 4.6.4 Motion to Extend/Limit Speaking Time A member may propose to change the speaking time. This motion can be raised only when the Director asks for points and motions. The Director may put this motion to a vote. A simple majority is required. 4.7 Handling a Motion 4.7.1 Members may raise procedural motions at all times, except during Moderated Caucus, Unmoderated Caucus, and voting procedure. Three steps by which a motion is brought before the group A member makes a motion. Another member seconds the motion. The Director states the question on the motion. Three steps in the consideration of a motion The members debate the motion (unless no member claims the floor for that purpose). The Director puts the question to a vote. The Director restates the question. The Director takes the vote: "All in favor of the motion, say aye." "Those opposed, say no." The Director announces the result of a vote.

A minimum of TWO seconds are required before a motion is put to vote, as and when applicable. 4.7.2 There are no abstentions during votes on procedural motions. 4.7.3 The Director is allowed to dismiss dilatory procedural motions. 4.7.4 No motion may interrupt a speaker.

Rule 5
5.1 Closure of debate. The Director will normally decide on the closure of a debate, but a delegate may move for closure, and (if necessary) be given a maximum of one minute to explain his/her rationale. If at least two other delegates second the motion, it will immediately be put to a vote, and requires the support of a majority of delegates to be successful. The Director will declare the debate closed if the vote is successful. 5.2 Closure of meeting. The Director will normally decide on the closure of a meeting, but a delegate may move for closure, and (if necessary) be given a maximum of one minute to explain his/her rationale. If at least two other delegates second the motion, it will immediately be put to a vote, and requires unanimity to be successful. The Director will then close the meeting if the vote is successful. No one delegate may call for a closure of a meeting more than once in any one meeting. 5.3 Extension of meeting. Any meeting may be extended as long as there is a consensus in favor, and as long as that extension does not prevent delegates from being at another previously scheduled meeting in another forum.

Rule 6
6.1 Resolution (Conclusions of the Committees) A resolution on an agenda item, essentially a brief paragraph prefaced with the following operative phrases recommends, emphasizes, insists on, notes, welcomes, etc. must have five signatures from five participants (one of whom may also be the Commission Director). Due to time constraints, in this simulation the Conclusions will be submitted in an outline format and will contain the resolutions agreed upon by delegates during negotiating sessions. A proposed resolution must be submitted to the Director before it can be formally considered for the Conclusions of the Presidency. Multiple resolutions can (but do not necessarily have to) be agreed upon for each agenda item, so long as they are not conflicting. As Conclusions of the Presidency are agreed upon through consensus, (voting is used only as a last resort) resolutions should have considerable support before they are formally proposed and discussed in formal debate. The Director will ask if there are any member states who are opposed to the resolution. If there are none, the resolution will be passed and be included in the Conclusions of the Presidency. If there are objections, debate and negotiation will continue until a consensus is reached or the resolution is abandoned. A vote on a resolution can be used if consensus cannot be reached to pass resolutions, but this is considered a last resort and only occurs in rare circumstances.

6.2 Amendments to a Proposal The amendments will be debated during the amendments debate and immediately following the general debate. They will be debated in the order in which they appear in the text. If two or more contradictory amendments relate to the same paragraph, the amendment which differs most from the text shall have priority over the others and shall be taken first. If it passes, the other amendments thereby fail; if it is rejected, the amendment which is next in priority shall be considered, and similarly for each of the remaining amendments. In case of doubt as to the order, the Director shall give a ruling. 6.2.1 Every member can propose amendments to a proposal. Amendments must be handed in to the Director in the designated form. 6.2.2 An amendment which would tend to delete, replace or render inoperative the whole of a draft text is not in order. The Director can dismiss dilatory amendments. 6.2.3 Amendments can be handed in at all times during a reading. 6.2.4 When a proposed amendment is to be debated, the Director calls upon the member who submitted it to present it. Apart from reading out loud the text of the proposed amendment, the member should explain it in a few brief sentences. After that, the Director shall open a speakers list regarding the amendment. No speech on amendments may last for more than one minute. 6.2.5 An amendment can make changes to several paragraphs in the text if these changes are linked with each other and if it would make no sense to split the amendment up into several amendments. The Director can dismiss an amendment on the grounds that it changes several paragraphs at a time but could be split up into several amendments. 6.2.6 The member who proposed an amendment can withdraw that amendment at all times. If he/she does so, the Director will ask whether another member is willing to take over the amendment. If no other member immediately takes over the amendment, it is deemed void.

6.2.7 Sub-amendments (a.k.a. Amendments to the Amendments) shall relate to an amendment previously discussed and may not contradict the sense of the amendment. A sub-amendment may not be further amended. 6.2.8 Friendly amendment: A member who discovers a spelling, grammatical or stylistic mistake in the proposal or in an amendment being debated may propose a friendly amendment. The friendly amendment should be in a written form and can be delivered to the Director at all times. The Director decides on the matter. The Director also has the possibility to propose a friendly amendment. 6.3 Voting on Amendments When the debate on amendments has been closed, the Director announces the beginning of the amendment voting procedure. No amendments may be submitted during the voting procedure and no member is allowed to enter or exit the Chambers. Guests may be asked to leave the room. The amendments that have been debated will be voted on following their order of appearance in the text. The Director will read out the text of the amendment to be voted on. The members will vote directly afterward, without debate. A simple majority is needed for the amendment to be accepted. Abstentions are permissible in the Committee. All the passed amendments become part of the amended proposal.

Rule7
Judging and Awards The judges and members of the presidency will both be involved in the judging deliberations. The members of each session will make nominations for awards. Participants are evaluated on their preparedness, accurate representation of country position, and use of diplomacy including correct use of parliamentary procedure, negotiating skill, and ability to make compromises