Rules of Procedure of the Committee of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region
Rules of Procedure of the Committee of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region
Rule 1 - Composition
Convention Article X.2.1
1.1 The Committee of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (hereafter referred to as 鈥淐ommittee鈥) shall be composed of the representatives of the Parties to the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (hereafter referred to as the Lisbon Recognition Convention), made in Lisbon on 11 April 1997.
1.2 Each Party shall, before each session of the Committee, communicate to the Secretariat of the Lisbon Recognition Convention the names of its representative(s) on the Committee. These shall remain in their function until the following session of the Committee unless the Party concerned designates another representative in their place, by notifying the Secretariat.
1.3 States having denounced the Lisbon Recognition Convention shall cease to be members of the Committee from such time as their denunciation shall become effective.
Rule 2 - Terms of reference
Convention Articles X.2.5, X.2.6, X.2.7, XI.3, XI.8
2.1 The function of the Committee shall be to promote the application of the Lisbon Recognition Convention and oversee its implementation.
2.2 The Committee may adopt, by a majority of the Parties, recommendations, declarations, protocols, models of good practice or other instruments to guide the competent authorities of the Parties in the implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention and in their consideration of applications for the recognition of qualifications concerning higher education. The Committee may also initiate the elaboration of such instruments.
2.3 By a two-thirds majority of the Parties, the Committee may adopt amendments to the Lisbon Recognition Convention in accordance with the rules set out for this purpose in the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
2.4 By a two-thirds majority of the Parties, the Committee shall decide on any requests of accession made under Article XI.3 of the Lisbon Recognition Convention. Acceding States shall become members of the Committee from such time as the Lisbon Recognition Convention shall enter into force with respect to them.
2.5 The Committee shall report to the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe and UNESCO. It shall maintain links to the UNESCO Regional Committees for the application of Conventions on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education adopted under the auspices of UNESCO.
Rule 3 - Sessions
Convention Article X.2.9
3.1 The Committee shall meet in ordinary session at least once every three years. The Committee shall decide on the periodicity of ordinary sessions.
3.2 The first ordinary session of the Committee, to be held within a year of the entry into force of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, shall be convened by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Director-General of UNESCO. Subsequent ordinary sessions shall be convened by the Secretariat of the Committee with the agreement of the President of the Committee.
3.3 As far as possible, ordinary sessions of the Committee shall be held in conjunction with annual meetings of the ENIC network.
3.4 Extraordinary sessions may be convened by the Secretariat of the Committee, according to a decision of the President. The place and date of extraordinary sessions shall be fixed by the President.
3.5 Any member of the Committee may invite the Committee to hold an ordinary or extraordinary session on its territory. The Secretariat of the Committee shall inform the members of the Bureau of any invitation of this kind. The Bureau, through its President, shall decide upon such invitations. In cases where no invitation has been accepted, ordinary or extraordinary meetings of the Committee shall be held at the headquarters of one of the Secretariats.
Rule 4 - Agenda
4.1 The draft agenda of the first session shall be drawn up by the Secretariat of the Committee.
4.2 The draft agenda of subsequent ordinary sessions shall be drawn up by the Secretariat of the Committee after consulting the members of the Bureau.
4.3 The draft agenda of ordinary sessions shall be communicated to members of the Committee and to the Observers, at least six weeks before the opening of each session.
4.4 The provisional agenda of an extraordinary session, which shall include only those items for whose consideration the session has been convened, shall be communicated to members of the Committee and to the Observers, at least ten days in advance.
4.5 The Committee shall adopt its agenda and order of business at the beginning of each session.
4.6 During an ordinary session the Committee may change the order of items on the agenda and add or delete items.
Rule 5 - Bureau
5.1 The Committee shall elect a Bureau composed of a President, a first and second Vice President and a Rapporteur. The term of office of the Bureau shall run from the end of one session of the Committee to the end of the subsequent session.
5.2 Notwithstanding rule 5.1, the first Bureau of the Committee shall be elected at the beginning of the first ordinary session and remain in office until the end of the second ordinary session.
5.3 The Bureau shall be responsible for co-ordinating the work of the Committee and, in general, assisting the President in his or her duties. The Bureau may be entrusted by the Committee to take certain decisions on its behalf.
5.4 Members of the Bureau shall be eligible to serve for two consecutive terms in the same office.
5.5 The Bureau may meet between sessions of the Committee by decisions of its President reached in agreement with the Secretariat.
Rule 6 - Subsidiary bodies
6.1 The Committee shall establish any subsidiary body it may deem necessary in order to consider the items on its agenda.
6.2 These Rules of Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis to the subsidiary bodies, if applicable.
Rule 7 - Observers
Convention Articles X.2.3, X.2.4, XI.1
7.1 The States referred to in Article XI.1 of the Lisbon Recognition Convention and the Holy See, if they are not Parties to the Lisbon Recognition Convention, as well as the European Community and the President of the ENIC Network, shall be able to participate in the meetings of the Committee as observers.
7.2 These observers shall be able to express their opinions and positions at the meetings of the Committee during the discussions of general issues, to the exclusion of items which, by their nature are to be dealt with only by the Members of the Committee. They shall also be able in these cases to put forward informal suggestions.
7.3 The President of the UNESCO Regional Committee for the Application of the Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees concerning Higher Education in the States belonging to the Europe Region shall be invited to participate in the meetings of the Committee as an observer.
7.4 Representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the field of recognition in the European Region may also be invited to attend meetings of the Committee as observers.
7.5 The United Nations and other organizations and institutions of the United Nations system may send representatives to sessions of the Committee.
Rule 8 - General powers of the President
8.1 In addition to exercising the powers which are conferred upon him elsewhere by these Rules, the President shall declare the opening and closing of each session of the Committee. (S)he shall direct the discussions, ensure observance of these Rules, control the proceedings and maintain order. (S)he shall not vote, but may designate a member of his or her delegation to vote in his or her place.
8.2 If the President ceases to represent a member of the Committee or is unable to perform his or her duties, the first Vice President shall act as President for the remainder of the President's term of office. If that Vice President also ceases to represent a member of the Committee or is unable to perform his or her duties, the second Vice President shall act as President for the remainder of the President's term of office.
8.3 If the President is absent during a session, his or her functions shall be exercised successively by the Vice-President.
Rule 9 - Publicity of proceedings
9.1 Unless otherwise decided by the Committee or by the body in question, all sessions of the Committee and of its subsidiary bodies shall be held in closed sessions.
Rule 10 - Quorum
Convention Article X.2.8
10.1 At plenary meetings of the Committee, a majority of the Parties to the Lisbon Recognition Convention shall constitute a quorum.
10.2 In the subsidiary bodies of the Committee, a majority of their members shall constitute a quorum.
10.3 The Committee and its subsidiary bodies may not take decisions without a quorum.
Rule 11 - Order of the speeches and time limit on speeches
11.1 The President of the meeting shall call upon members of the Committee in principle in the order in which they signify their wish to speak. The same procedure shall be applied to the Observers referred to in Rule 7.1.
11.2 The Observers referred to in Rule 7.3 鈥 7.5 may speak with the prior consent of the President.
11.3 The Chair of the meeting may limit the time to be allowed to each speaker when circumstances make this desirable.
Rule 12 - Points of order
12.1 In the course of a debate, any member of the Committee may raise a point of order, and such point of order shall be immediately decided by the President.
12.2 An appeal may be made against the ruling of the President. It shall be put to the vote immediately, and the President's ruling shall stand unless overruled by a majority of the members present and voting.
Rule 13 - Procedural motions
13.1 In the course of a debate, any member of the Committee may move the suspension or adjournment of the meeting, or the adjournment or closure of the debate.
13.2 Such motions shall be immediately put to the vote. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 of Rule 12, the following motions shall have precedence, in the following order, over all other proposals or motions before the meeting:
a) to suspend the meeting;
b) to adjourn the meeting;
c) to adjourn the debate on the item under discussion;
d) for the closure of the debate on the item under discussions.
Rule 14 - Proposals and amendments
14.1 Proposals and amendments may be presented by the members of the Committee and shall be transmitted in writing in one of the working languages of the Committee to the Secretariat, which shall circulate copies to all members of the Committee.
14.2 As a general rule, no proposal and no amendment shall be examined or put to the vote unless they have been circulated sufficiently in advance to all members in the working languages of the Committee.
Rule 15 - Working Languages
15.1 The working languages of the Committee are English, French, Russian and Spanish.
15.2 Speeches made in one of the working languages shall as a rule be interpreted into the other working languages.
15.3 The documents of the Committee shall as a rule be published in the working languages.
Rule 16 - Voting
Convention Article X.2.1
16.1 Each Member of the Committee referred to in Rule 1 shall have one vote.
16.2 Unless otherwise stipulated in the Lisbon Recognition Convention or in these Rules, decisions shall be taken by a majority of Members present and voting.
16.3 For the purpose of the present Rules, the expression 鈥淢embers present and voting鈥 shall mean Members casting an affirmative or negative vote. The Members abstaining from voting shall be considered as not voting.
16.4 Voting shall normally be by show of hands, except as concerns elections, which shall normally be conducted by secret ballot if there is more than one candidate for each office.
16.5 When the result of a vote cast by a show of hands is in doubt, the President may take a second vote by roll call. A vote by roll call shall also be taken if it is requested by at least two members of the Committee before the voting takes place.
16.6 When an amendment to a proposal is moved, the amendment shall be voted on first. When two or more amendments to a proposal are moved, the Committee shall first vote on the amendment deemed by the President to be furthest removed in substance from the original proposal, and then on the amendment deemed by him/her to be next furthest removed therefrom, and so on, until all the amendments have been put to the vote, as appropriate.
16.7 If one or more amendments are adopted, the amended proposal shall then be voted upon as a whole.
16.8 A motion is considered an amendment to a proposal if it merely adds to, deletes from or revises part of that proposal.
Rule 17 - Records
17.1 At each of its sessions, the Committee shall adopt a list of its decisions, including the text of the conclusions and recommendations it has adopted.
17.2 After each session of the Committee, the Secretariat shall issue a final report of the meeting.
Rule 18 - Special consultations by correspondence
18.1 Should the approval of the Committee be required for measures of exceptional urgency and importance while the Committee is not in session, the Secretariat 鈥 or the President, through the Secretariat 鈥 may consult the Members by correspondence. The proposed measures shall be adopted if it is approved by two-thirds of the members of the Committee.
Rule 19 - Secretariat of the Committee
Convention Article X.2.10
19.1 The Secretariat of the Committee shall be entrusted jointly to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Director-General of UNESCO.
19.2 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe and to the Director-General of UNESCO shall each place at the disposal of the Committee a member of their Secretariats who shall act as Co-Secretaries of the Committee, together with the staff and other facilities necessary for the work of the Committee.
19.3 The Co-Secretaries shall participate, without the right to vote, in the work of the Committee, of its Bureau and of its other subsidiary bodies. The Secretariat may at any time make oral or written statements to the Committee, to the Bureau or to any subsidiary body.
Rule 20 - Adoption and amendment of the rules of procedure
Convention Article X.2.9
20.1 The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure by a decision taken in the first plenary session by a simple majority of the Members present and voting.
20.2 The Committee may amend these Rules of Procedure, except those based on provisions of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, by a decision in plenary meeting taken by a two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting.
20.3 Any of these Rules of Procedures, other than those based on provisions of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, may be suspended by a decision in plenary meeting taken by a two-thirds majority of the Members present and voting.