GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE

GENERAL RULES

The wish to speak is indicated by the chairperson using the raise hand function in the Zoom room. 

Once recognised the delegate may enable their mic. 

Indicate your committee’s name in the first part of your Zoom name, followed by your first name, i.e. EMPL_Anna

Zoom’s Chat function is for General Assembly -related purposes only and should not be spammed by the delegates. 

The authority of the Board is absolute.

PROCEDURE AND TIME SETTINGS

Two minutes to read through the action plan 

Three minutes to defend the motion for the action plan 

Three minutes to present two amendments for the action plan 

Three minutes to decide and respond to the amendments

Four rounds of open debate

Three minutes to sum-up the debate

Voting procedure

Announcing the votes 

AMENDMENT PROCEDURE

Modifications of an action plan in order to improve it. Amendments are to be handed in on a specific form (distributed through online channels) one day prior to the General Assembly. There will be a maximum of 2 amendments presented per action plan debate and the proposed amendment, and the clause it relates to, will be indicated in the Action Plan Booklet. 

USE OF PLACARDS

Should a Delegate raise any points during the Open Debate or any tools mentioned below be used during the General Assembly, the Chairperson of the respective Committee shall use the raise of hand function and indicate the Points of Personal Privilege, Direct Responses and Points of Order through the Chat-function in Zoom. Regular points only imply the raising of the hand, no message in the chat – other placards require it as indicated below.

Point of Personal Privilege

Request for a Delegate to repeat a point that was inaudible. Failure to understand the language being spoken does not make for a Point of Personal Privilege. Implies the Chair raising their Zoom hand and sending a message in the Zoom chat about a Personal Privilege.

Direct Response

Twice per debate, each Committee may have a Direct Response. Should a Chairperson indicate the use of the Direct Response during the open debate, their delegate will immediately be recognised by the Board and given the floor as soon as the point being made is concluded. A Direct Response can only be used to refer to and discuss the point made directly beforehand. If two or more Direct Responses are requested at once, the Board will decide which Committee to recognise. In this case, the second Direct Response shall only be held if it can be referred to the first Direct Response, so on and so forth.

Point of Order

These can be raised by the Chairperson if a Delegate feels the Board have not properly followed parliamentary procedure. Ultimately, the authority of the Board is absolute.

Implies the Chair raising their Zoom hand and sending a message in the Zoom chat about a point of order.

Defence Speech

One member of the Proposing Committee delivers the Defence Speech. It is used to explain the rationale of the overall lines of the Action Plan and convince the Plenary that the Action Plan is worthy of being adopted. This speech can last a maximum of three minutes.

Amendment Speech

One or two individual Delegates from a Committee other than that proposing the Action Plan may deliver an Amendment Speech. It is used to propose alternative solutions for individual operative clauses. This speech can last a maximum of one and a half minutes each.

Response to the Amendment Speech

The proposing committee will have three minutes to both decide whether or not to accept the amendments mentioned in the Amendment Speech(es) and to respond to that amendment(s).

Summation Speech

One or two members of the Proposing Committee deliver the Summation Speech. It is used to summarise the debate, respond to main, selected criticism and to once more explain why the chosen approach is the most sensible. This speech can last a maximum of three minutes.