Regular Meeting Regulations
Board of Consultants Meeting Regulations
Promulgated by decision No. 970, dated 01/04/1429 H issued by the President of the Bureau.
Amended by decision No. 20, dated 02/01/1432 H issued by the President of the Bureau.
Article 1
The Board of Consultants shall comprise the President of the Bureau, the Vice-President, the Assistant to the President and the consultants of the Bureau.
Article 2
The President of the Bureau shall oversee all work and meetings related to the Board, and may – if necessary – invite a non-consultant to attend certain meetings in a non-voting capacity.
Article 3
The Board of Consultants shall study the following:
1. Draft laws and regulations
2. Draft general agreements
3. Issues involving general guidelines
4. Issues in which opinions of the Board are required
5. Matters referred to it by the President of the Bureau
Article 4
The Board shall convene daily at 8:30 a.m., chaired by the President, the Vice-President or the Assistant to the President for a period not exceeding two hours. In cases where none are able to attend, the meeting shall be chaired by the attending consultant with the highest rank. Quorum shall be formed by at least a third of the consultants, except in special cases determined by the President.
Article 5
The Secretary-General of the Bureau shall prepare a weekly agenda inclusive of the issues to be brought before the Board of Consultants in the order in which they were submitted to the Bureau. The agenda shall be distributed among the consultants every Tuesday along with the relevant subject matter, unless otherwise decided by the President.
Article 6
The Board of the Consultants shall have a Secretary-General nominated from among the consultants or researchers by way of a decision by the President. His functions shall include the following:
1. Receiving issues from consultants to be included in the agenda,
2. Preparing the agenda for the weekly meetings,
3. Recording the minutes of the meetings, to include details such as the place and date of the meeting, the names of the attendees, the issues examined, a summary of the discussions, the conclusions reached by consensus or voting, and any other items decided upon by the meeting’s chairman,
4. Notifying the consultants of the conclusions made regarding the issues they presented during the meeting, using a designated form,
5. Supervising the preparation of the Board of Consultants’ meeting room in coordination with the concerned department, and ensuring that all papers and documents are cleared post each meeting.
Article 7
The issues on the agenda shall be addressed in the listed order unless otherwise decided by the President or the chairman of the meeting. The President may also decide to postpone or repeat the discussion of a particular matter, and may also bring to the table a matter of urgency not listed on the agenda.
Article 8
The meeting shall conclude with the study of the issues listed on the agenda. If the time allocated for the meeting expires without presenting, examining or completing an item on the agenda, it shall have priority on the agenda of the following day, unless otherwise decided by the Chairman, or if the concerned consultant requests postponement.
Article 9
The Board of Consultants shall examine issues as follows:
1. At the outset of the presentation of an item listed on the agenda, the President shall allocate a ten-minute limit to the concerned consultant. The presentation shall include the subject of the discussion, the relevant achievements and the recommendations reached.
2. Rules and regulations shall be read thoroughly, article by article.
3. The President shall open the floor for consultants’ discussions and input regarding each item or subject in the order they are requested. The Secretary-General shall make note of the requests in chronological order.
4. The argument or input made by any consultant shall not exceed 3 minutes.
5. In the course of the discussion or input, the speaker shall address the President, who shall be the only one to have the right to interrupt the speaker.
6. The concerned consultant shall record the opinions or remarks of the other consultants in order to respond to them, clarify them or present them to delegates from other entities. He shall be given an opportunity to do so after every discussion or input for no longer than two minutes, or only once for a maximum of ten minutes.
7. If a consultant considers that the concerned consultant has failed to respond adequately or at all to his comment or input, he may request from the President to direct the concerned consultant to do so.
8. If the President of the meeting deems that the subject has been given fair consideration, he may put an end to the discussion. If case of divergence in opinions regarding a specific matter, it shall be put to a vote.
Article 10
In providing their input during debates, all consultants shall provide objective and meaningful remarks regarding content and rhetoric, and notify the concerned consultant of any other remarks.
Article 11
The President of the meeting alone may alert the speaker of any issues he deems fit. The speaker may not use derogatory, cruel or inappropriate language or undermine persons or entities.
Article 12
Consultants may not discuss a matter or express an opinion or a remark during or after its vote.
Article 13
Voting on the matters presented during the meetings shall be limited to the consultants present during the discussion. Any consultant may refrain from voting. The President of the meeting, for reasons he deems appropriate, may request that the voting be secret. In all cases, the President of the meeting shall only vote after the consultants have voted.
Article 14
The opinion with the most votes from the consultants present shall be chosen. In case of equal votes, the President shall have the casting vote. The Secretary-General shall announce the result of the voting during the same meeting.
Article 15
The concerned consultant shall make note of the decision taken regarding the issue he presented and shall abide by the result made by the Board of Consultants, whether by consensus or voting,.
Article 16
Consultants shall adhere to the scheduled times of the Board meetings and prepare for them in advance by studying the items on the agenda and any relevant documentation.
Article 17
Consultants shall sit in the seat designated for them and refrain from leaving papers, documents and the like in the meeting room following the end of each meeting.
Article 18
These regulations shall become effective as of the date of adoption by the President of the Bureau.
