RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE GEORGIA RED CROSS SOCIETY
Article 1-The date and place of the session of the General Assembly
1.1 The ordinary session of the General Assembly (hereinafter "GA session") shall meet once a year; the opening date and the place of the GA sessions shall be determined by the previous General Assembly or by the Presidium of the General Assembly in case these issues were not decided at the preceding GA session;
1.2 The first session of the General Assembly shall be convoked by the President of the National Society by the end of election/reporting period no later than three months after the new delegates of the General Assembly are elected;
1.3 Except the ordinary session of the General Assembly, the extraordinary session may be convoked in case of necessity.
Article 2-The convocation of the session of the General Assembly
2.1 The President of the National Society shall be responsible for organizing the convocation of the GA session;
2.2 The members of the National Society and the delegates of the General Assembly shall be informed about the session of the General Assembly in writing or through the Society's periodicals or mass media two weeks prior to the opening of the session;
2.3 A secretary of the GA session-the Secretary General of the national society, together with the Secretariat staff shall be responsible for the preparation of all materials of the GA session and shall provide the provisional agenda of the GA session accompanied with the relevant projects to the GA delegates prior to the session.
Article 3-Contents provisional agenda of the session of the General Assembly
3.1 The provisional agenda of the ordinary GA session shall be comprised of the following issues:
- Declare the registration results of the GA delegates and make a decision on the validity of the session;
- Adoption of the agenda;
- Election of the Drafting, Credentials and Returning Commissions;
- Statement by the President;
- Report by the Secretary General on the activities of the national society and the financial report for the preceding financial year;
- Report by the Finance Commission;
- Budgetary proposals (draft budget) by the Secretary General for the ensuing next financial year;
- elections and appointments
3.2 The secretary of the GA session shall be informed about the possible amendments or additions to the provisional agenda prior to the session;
3.3 The draft agenda shall be finalized according to the proposals received from the delegates by the secretary of the GA session, with the agreement of the Chairman of the GA session three weeks prior to the session and shall be submit to the Presidium of the General Assembly before the GA session;
3.4 The final draft agenda shall be adopted by the General Assembly.
Article 4- Additional rules for the extraordinary sessions of General Assembly
Rules 2 and 3 shall also be applied, with due alteration of details, to extraordinary sessions of the General Assembly with the following modifications:
4.1 An extraordinary session of the General Assembly shall be convoked by the President of the Georgia Red Cross Society, the Presidium of the General Assembly, as well as upon the written request of 1/10 (one-tenth) of the members of the national society, addressed to the Presidium of the General Assembly or to the President of the national society specifying the agenda of the session;
4.2 The extraordinary session shall be convoked no later than one month after the written request is submitted;
4.3 The date and place, as well as the agenda of the extraordinary session shall be fixed by the President of the national society in agreement with the GA Presidium and the Secretary General. All documents shall be submitted to the Delegates of the General Assembly;
4.4 The delegates of the preceding General Assembly sessions shall participate in the extraordinary session of the General Assembly.
Article 5- Delegates of General Assembly
5.1 Each Local Organization (Local Branch) of the national society shall be represented by a delegation (the Chairperson of the Local Branch and the elected delegates);
5.2 The number of the GA delegates shall be determined according to the quotas approved by the GA Presidium taking into account the number of members of the national society;
5.3 The delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected by the Local Conference of the Local Branch for a four-year term;
5.4 The delegates of the General Assembly shall be elected only for two consecutive terms;
5.5 Power of a GA delegate shall come into force from recognition of his/her power upon the decision of the GA Presidium and shall stop by the end of election/reporting period, from the moment of elections of new GA delegates or from the moment of the expiration of his/her office term;
5.6 The power of the GA delegate may be terminated early upon the decision of the General Assembly a) in case of a personal statement, b) in case if the delegate obtains a post which does not come to conformity with the GRCS Statute (article 26); c) in case if the damning verdict against the delegate enters into force; d) in case when the delegate losses the Georgian citizenship, e) in case of his/her absence at two consecutive sessions with unreasonable excuse, f) in case of a death of the delegate, g) in case of incapacity of the delegate upon the decision of court;
5.7 The GA delegate shall be entitled to receive any kind of information about the national society's activities, to address a question to any official of the national society;
5.8 The GA delegate shall have the right to raise a question with additional issues before the General Assembly adopt the agenda, as well as to make a proposal on the working procedural rules; the proposed issues shall be put to vote upon the decision of the General Assembly.
Article 6- Observers of the General Assembly
6.1 The President of the national society in agreement with the Presidium of the General Assembly may invite the representatives of the ICRC and IFRC, as well as other stakeholders to participate in the session of the General Assembly as observers;
6.2 Observers shall have access to all documents of the General Assembly;
6.3 During the session observers, upon the permission of the Chairman of the GA session, may make statements on matters of their interest and address the General Assembly with recommendations.
Article 7- Chairmanship of the General Assembly
7.1 The session of the General Assembly shall be presided by the President of the Georgia Red Cross Society;
7.2 In case of his/her absence the session shall be presided by the Vice-President of the national society.
Article 8- Preparation of the session of the General Assembly
8.1 The General Assembly shall review the issues in terms of reference assigned by the Statute of the national society;
8.2 The Chairmen of the Local Branches shall submit the proposals about the issues to be discussed at the GA session two months prior;
8.3 The provisional agenda shall be developed in line with the issues to be discussed at the GA session. The secretary of the GA session shall monitor the preparation of the relevant documents;
8.4 The secretary of the GA session shall collect the draft projects at least three weeks prior to the session in order to develop the final draft agenda;
8.5 The draft documents on each issue prepared by the responsible persons with the proposals and recommendations about the documents shall be dispatched to the GA delegates for preliminary revision;
8.6 The delegates of the General Assembly shall approve the regulations for reporters, co-reporters and speakers in debates together with the agenda;
8.7 Those issues which have not been discussed at the GA session will be transferred to the following GA session upon the decision of the General Assembly.
Article 9- Conduct the Session of the General Assembly
9.1 Registration of GA Delegates shall take place before the opening of the General Assembly Session. Delegates to the session shall present their identity card and Georgia Red Cross Society Membership card;
9.2 The GA delegates shall be registered by the group of secretariat employees or volunteers which shall be set beforehand;
9.3 Chairman of the GA session shall declare the session plenipotentiary only in case when quorum commits (more than a half of the GA Delegates);
9.4 If there is no quorum the repeated session of the GA shall be conducted no late than in 12 (twelve) weeks. In case quorum fails on a repeated session as well, Presidium of the GA shall take a decision on immediate conduct or postponing of a GA session;
9.5 GA Session shall start after its working organs (credentials, returning and drafting commissions) are elected;
9.6 Once the registration of GA delegates is over, and if quorum commits, credentials commission shall seal all registration materials and hand them over to the Chairman of the GA session;
9.7 Chairman of the GA session shall observe the process of discussing issues in accordance with the agenda of the GA session;
9.8 Reports presented to the GA in writing shall not be read out loud;
9.9 Chairman of the GA session shall facilitate debates, within his/her power shall announce session as closed or open, as well as shall make sure all procedural rules are observed and respected, shall put issues on a vote and announce results; as well as, s/he shall be empowered to stop the session and announce break;
9.10 Chairman of the GA session shall sign along with secretary of the GA session all resolutions, decisions and other documentation adopted during the GA session;
Article 10- Official and working languages of the session of the General Assembly
10.1 The official and working languages of the General Assembly shall be the State language, Georgian language. The Secretariat of the national society shall ensure the translation for the foreign observers of the GA session and for those delegates, who are unable to speak Georgian.
Article 11- Debates
11.1 A speaker may only take the floor after having obtained the permission of the Chairman who shall ensure the follow up the agenda and regulations, according to the list of speakers in the order in which it has been submitted;
11.2 The Chairman may call a speaker to order if his/her remarks are not relevant to the subject under discussion; If necessary, the Chairman may rebuke the speaker and withdraw the permission to speak;
11.3 The duration of any one intervention by a delegate on the same question (issue) shall not exceed ten minutes but may be extended or shortened on the proposal of the Chairman of the General Assembly, after the debate shall be closed on the issue.
Article 12- Proposals, motions and amendments
12.1 During the GA session, proposals, motions and amendments regarding agenda shall be discussed in the order in which they are presented and shall be put to the vote, upon the decision of the General Assembly;
12.2 If, during a discussion, a delegate (or a group of delegates) raises a point of order, the discussion shall be suspended and the point of order shall be put to the vote upon the decision of the Chairman.
12.3 Discussion upon each question shall be closed when there are no further speakers or when a motion of closure proposed by a simple majority of the GA delegates;
12.4 The Chairman of the General Assembly shall announce the list of speakers; after the course of a debate, the Chairman shall close the issue under discussion. The speaker and co-speaker shall have the right to make a summary on the item.
Article 13- Voting rights
13.1 Each GA delegate shall enjoy the right to a single vote;
13.2 In case of even distribution of votes, the vote of the President of the national society shall be decisive;
13.3 The Secretary General shall have the right of a consultative voice at the GA session;
13.4 Observers of the GA session shall not have the right to vote
Article 14- Voting procedures
14.1 In case of open voting, votes shall be taken by a show of hands or mandates;
14.2 The retuning commission (board) shall proceed to a count of the votes after the ballots have been collected; the vote shall be taken by roll call, with the consent of the General Assembly, upon the request of the GA delegates; in this event, the delegates shall be called in alphabetical order or the mandates shall be counted;
14.3 The vote shall be taken by secret ballot upon the decision of the simple majority of the GA delegates.
14.4 In case of voting by secret ballot, the voting shall be conducted according to the list of GA delegates;
14.5 In case of voting by secret ballot, the retuning commission (board) shall distribute the ballot papers and shall make a relevant note on distribution of the ballot paper in the list of the GA delegates;
14.6 In case of voting by secret ballot the ballot papers shall be collected in the voting box, after voting the box shall be sealed. The retuning commission (board) shall proceed to a count of the votes according to the collected ballots in the voting box;
14.7 During the voting, no member shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting;
14.8 If two or more proposals relate to the same question, the General Assembly shall unless it decides otherwise, vote on the proposals in the order in which they have been submitted. The General Assembly may, after each vote on a proposal, decide whether to vote on the next proposal.
14.9 When amendments are moved to a proposal, the General Assembly shall vote in the order in which the amendments have been submitted, after the General Assembly shall put the proposal, with the amendment, to the vote.
Article 15- Definition of majorities
15.1 A simple majority consists of more than fifty per cent of GA delegates present and voting;
Article 16- Decisions
16.1 The General Assembly shall take decisions by open vote or secret ballot upon the decision of delegates; decisions regarding elections of officials stipulated by the article 27 (a, b and c) shall be held by a secret vote unless the General Assembly decides otherwise;
16.2 The delegates of the General Assembly shall express their will during each vote in three possible forms: pro (in favor), con (against) and abstention;
16.3 While taking decision during GA (open vote or secret ballot) results shall be announced by returning commission;
16.4 The decision shall be taken by the simple majority of the delegates, present and voting. Amendment to the Statute shall require 2/3 (two-third) of the votes, the change of the main goal of the national society shall be made by the majority of 4/5 of the total number of GA delegates;
16.5 The Drafting Commission shall prepare all decisions made by the General Assembly in writing; it as well shall make corrections to the formulation of decisions on the issues discussed at the GA Session.
Article 17- Records of the session of the General Assembly
17.1 Based on the materials provided by the Information Service and the Drafting Commission, the secretary of the GA session shall make a record of the session in writing (indicating the date and place of the GA session), which shall include the summary of the discussions during the session, the text of the decisions taken by the General Assembly and the proposals provided by the presented delegates, as well as the issues to be discussed at the next GA session;
17.2 The Chairman and the secretary of the GA session shall sign the record of the session;
Article 18- General Assembly Information Support
18.1 The national society shall advertise the information about the convocation of the General Assembly through mass media two weeks prior to the opening of the GA session and shall invite the journalists for accreditation;
18.2 The Secretariat of the national society shall accredit the journalists upon their written requests;
18.3 The journalists without accreditation shall not be allowed to participate in the session and the Chairman shall announce the GA session as closed session;
18.4 The Information Service of the national society shall ensure the sharing of information about the work of the GA session through mass media;
18.5 The Information Service of the national society shall ensure the audio and video records of the GA session, the records of the session (audio and video tapes) shall be kept in archive by the Information Service of the national society.
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