Article 14 Right to address the Conference (ILC Standing Orders)

Description: (ILC Standing Orders)
Part I: General Standing Orders Adopted on 21 November 1919 at the First Session of the Conference. Revised and consolidated at the 27th Session. The present text of this article includes all amendments adopted up to the 85th Session, 1997.

ARTICLE 14

Right to address the Conference

1. No delegate shall address the Conference without having asked and obtained permission of the President.

2. Speakers shall be called upon in the order in which they have signified their desire to speak.

3. No delegate shall speak more than once upon the same motion, resolution or amendment, without the special permission of the Conference, provided that the mover of a motion, resolution or amendment shall have the right to speak twice unless the closure has been adopted in accordance with article 16.

4. The President may require a speaker to resume his seat if his remarks are not relevant to the subject under discussion.

5. A delegate may at any time rise to a point of order, which shall be decided forthwith by the President.

6. Except with the special consent of the Conference no speech, whether by a delegate, a visiting minister, an observer or a representative of an international organization, shall exceed ten minutes exclusive of the time for translation. The President may, after consultation with the Vice-Presidents, submit to the Conference for decision without debate a proposal to reduce the time-limit for speeches on a specific topic before the opening of the discussion thereof.

7. Interruptions and audible conversations are not permitted.

8. Ministers whose departments deal with the questions discussed by the Conference and who are not delegates or advisers, members of the Governing Body who are not delegates or advisers at the Conference, and the Director-General of the International Labour Office or his representative may address the Conference if invited to do so by the President.

9. Representatives of official international organizations which have been invited to be represented at the Conference may participate, without vote, in the discussions.

10. The President may, in agreement with the Vice-Presidents, permit representatives of non-governmental international organizations with which the International Labour Organization has established consultative relationships and with which standing arrangements for representation at the Conference have been made, and representatives of other non-governmental international organisations which have been invited to be represented at the Conference, to make or circulate statements for the information of the Conference on questions which are being considered by the Conference other than administrative and financial questions. If agreement cannot be reached the matter shall be referred to the meeting for decision without discussion.

11. Persons appointed as observers by a State invited to attend the Conference may, with the permission of the President, address the Conference during the general discussions.

12. Representatives of liberation movements which have been invited to attend the Conference may, with the permission of the President, address the Conference during the discussion of the reports of the Governing Body and of the Director-General.