Rules of Procedure (ZYGMUN 2018)
  • The following Rules of Procedure set out by the Secretariat are guidelines of ZYGMUN Model United Nations 2018 and shall be followed by all delegates and staff at all times during the conference on American School of Warsaw grounds. Rules of Procedure shall not be changed or undermined by anyone with the exception of the Secretary General, President of the General Assembly or ZYGMUN Supervisors.

    General Rules:

    Article 1: The Secretariat

    1. The Secretary General, The President of the General Assembly and The Head of Admin are collectively to be referred to as the Secretariat. The Secretariat is officially responsible for supervising the course of the conference.
    2. Any uncertainties regarding the Rules of Procedure shall be resolved by The Secretariat or by any person/persons indicated by The Secretariat.  
    3. All decisions undertaken by The Secretariat or ZYGMUN Supervisors regarding The Rules of Procedure are final and may not be discredited or undermined by any participant of the conference or staff.

    Article 2: Code of Conduct

    1. The official language of ZYGMUN Model United Nations is English, all documents e.g. resolutions, amendments, amendments to the second degree and speeches shall be submitted or presented in English. 
    2. Participants of the conference, staff, The Secretariat, ZYGMUN Supervisors must at all times show proper courtesy and respect towards each other throughout the conference.  
    3. The Secretariat and ZYGMUN Supervisors reserve the right to punish any person/persons who breaks The Rules of Procedure.  
    4. Any acts of discrimination or disrespect will be condemned by The Secretariat, Chairs and ZYGMUN Supervisors.  
    5. The official attire for ZYGMUN Model United Nations is Western business attire. Traditional attire of the represented State will not be in order. 
    6. Delegates, participants of the conference, Chairs and The Secretariat must refer to themselves or each other in third person at all times.
    7. The use of electronic devices (such as portable computers, tablets or mobile phones) is allowed only by the permission of the Chair or The Secretariat.
    8. Delegates, participants of the conference, Chairs and The Secretariat must not use electronic devices as means for entertainment unless deemed fit by The Secretariat or Chairs. 
    9. The Secretariat and ZYGMUN Supervisors reserve the right to expel any delegate or participants of the conference in special cases if The Rules of Procedure are harshly violated.
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    Article 3: Passing notes
    1. All notes are to be written in English. 
    2. The content of the message must appropriate and related to the agenda or topic.  
    3. Profanity, racist, sexist, religious and ethnic slurs are out of order. 

    Article 4: Attendance
    1. At the beginning of every sitting, the Chair or The President of the General Assembly will call all the Member States in English alphabetical order to state their attendance. The delegates must state whether they are present or present and voting, remembering that if they state to be present and voting the delegate may not abstain in any substantive vote.
    2. For the Chair or President to be able to establish quorum, two-thirds of the Member States must be present or present and voting.
    3. If quorum is not constituted, the Chair or President may not open the debates.  
    4. Any delegate not present during the roll call will automatically obtain the status of an observer until the next roll call is conducted, the delegates may challenge the quorum by raising a Motion to Challenge the Quorum (this motion requires simple majority to pass).  
    5. The status of attendance during roll call can only be changed by the conduction of the next roll call. 
    6. After the roll call procedure is conducted the delegates shall decide the flow of the debate through motions.

    Article 5: Motions and Points
    1. When a motion is submitted the Chair must ask for seconds for the motion followed by objections to the motion.
    2. If there are substantive objections to the motion, the motion shall be voted upon by the committee through acclimation.
    3. The delegate objecting the motion must rise and make a short speech explaining their objection.   
    4. Motions with no objections pass at the discretion of the Chair.  
    5. The Chairs have the right to pass or reject any motion regardless of the committees decision.
    6. Points of Information have to be phrased in in the form of a question and may be raised at any time as long as it does not interrupt the speaker. Points of Information must address the speaker and be relevant to the speech.  
    7. Points of Order may be raised at any time as long as it does not interrupt the speaker to address the issue of inappropriate application of Rules of Procedure.
    8. Point of Personal Privilege may be raised at any time as long as it does not interrupt the speaker in order to address personal discomfort of a delegate.  
    9. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry may be raised at any time as long as it does not interrupt the speaker with the intention of clarification of Rules of Procedure.
    10. A Right of Reply may be raised by delegates whose national integrity or sovereignty has been offended by another delegate’s speech.
    11. A Right of Reply must not interrupt other speakers, it may be raised after a speech or during it via Page notes.  
    12. The relevancy of the raised Right of Reply is up to the decision of the Chair or President. 
    13. Rights of Reply to Rights of Reply are out of order.

    Article 6: Motion of Censure
    1. Motion of Censure is raised to censure a delegate who violates the Rules of Procedure.
    2. The Motion of Censure may interrupt other speakers if it is relevant at that time.  
    3. The Chair or President may censure a delegate who violates the Rules even if no such Point has been raised by any delegate.  
    4. The delegate raising the Motion of Censure must supply specific reason and explanation for their Point as well as the duration of the censure.  
    5. The relevancy of the raised Motion of Censure is to be assessed by the Chair or President. The duration of censure is also at Chair’s or President’s discretion.

    Article 7: General Debate and Points of Information

    1. If a motion to open the Primary Speaker’s List is submitted the topic and the duration must be specified by the submitter. 
    2. The Chair has the final say regarding all motions. 
    3. Delegates wishing to be added to the Primary Speaker’s List must raise their placards when order too. Any delegates wishing to be added to the Primary Speaker’s List after the indicated time period may be added at the discretion of the Chair.  
    4. Delegates may be added again to the end Primary Speaker’s List after having spoken by informing the Chair through a note as long as the alloted time for the Primary Speaker’s List is not exhausted.
    5. Once having finished their speech, a delegate must yield the floor back to the Chair, The President of the General Assembly or another delegate. Delegates may address the audience and raise points and motions only when given the floor by the President of the General Assembly, the Chair or previous delegate.
    6. Points of information and Follow ups must always be in the form of a question.
    7. Follow ups to a follow up are in order.
    8. The President of the General Assembly and the Chair of the Committee has the authority to call to order delegates whose speeches are irrelevant or inappropriate.

    Article 8: Unmoderated Caucus

    1. Motion for Unmoderated Caucus is in order any time the floor is open. 
    2. Delegate making a motion for Unmoderated Caucus must state both the time and topic of the Unmoderated Caucus. 
    3. During the Unmoderated Caucus it is appropriate for delegates to stand up and leave their seats in order to create Draft Resolutions. 
    4. Time for the Unmoderated Caucus may last any amount of time deemed necessary by the Chairs.

    Article 9: Moderated Caucus

    1. Motion for Moderated Caucus is in order any time the floor is open.
    2. Delegate making a motion for Moderated Caucus must state the duration of the caucus, topic and time per speaker.  
    3. Delegates wishing to speak during the Moderated Caucus must raise their placards when ordered by the chair.  
    4. Points of Information during the Moderated Caucus to the speaker are in order, the number of Points of Information should not exceed two, however, this can be changed at the discretion of the committee or the Chair.

    Article 10: Resolutions
    1. All Resolutions must be formatted in the format provided below. 
    2. Resolutions must have one Main-Submitter and at least four Co-Submitters.
    3.  Resolutions must have a minimum of five Pre-Ambulatory clauses.  
    4. The Draft Resolution must be submitted to the Chair or The Secretariat before being presented in the committee.  
    5. When a Resolution is submitted there must be one speech for and against The Resolution.  
    6. If a Resolution has not been amended, not counting friendly amendments,  Co-Submitters have to vote for it.  
    7. A Resolution requires a simple majority in voting in order to be accepted.  
    8. A Motion to Split the House can be raised in order to repeat the voting procedure. In this voting no Member State is allowed to abstain from voting. The motion requires simple majority to pass.

    Article 11: Amendments

    1. Amendments may be submitted at all times during open debate on a Resolution through page notes.
    2. Amendments must be approved by the Chair before being presented to the Committee.  
    3. Amendments to the second degree are in order, but they may not completely change the first Amendment.  
    4. Amendments need a simple majority to pass.

    Article 12: Voting

    1. All delegates have the right to vote for or against on Resolutions and Amendments  except for delegates who represent observer states e.g. Palestine.
    2. Abstentions are allowed at all times unless the delegate has stated “Present and Voting” during roll call. 
    3. Voting on Motions should be done through acclimation.  
    4. Motions to Split the House are only appropriate during voting on Resolutions, Amendments and Amendments to the Second Degree.
    5. The Chair has the final say in the form of voting on all matters.

    Article 13: Security Council 
    1. The Security Council has the right to summon an ambassador of another country to provide information on the topic of discussion for a maximum of 45min. The summoning must be done by the end of the previous day by note.
    2. P5 members of the Security Council have the right to veto amendments and/or resolutions.