AGM 2016: Standing orders

ARC AGM 2016

STANDING ORDERS

Order of Proceedings

1. The business of the AGM shall be dealt with in accordance with the published agenda.

Motions and Timetable

2. Motions shall be taken in the order recommended by the Procedure Sub-Committee.

3. The time allotted to each motion shall be at the discretion of the President, but the times allotted to each section of the agenda by the Procedure Sub-Committee shall normally be adhered to.

4. If all of the motions in any section of the agenda shall have been considered before the end of the time allotted to that section of the agenda, then the President may call any motion from any previous section of the agenda which was not debated due to lack of time.

5. Any motion which is not moved when called by the President shall be deemed to have been considered by the AGM and lost.

6. Any motion which has been lost (or deemed to have been lost pursuant to Standing Order 5) may not be moved again during the AGM.

7. If any motion shall not have been called by the President before the end of the time allotted to the final section of the agenda, then that motion shall be deemed to have been considered by the AGM and remitted to Committee.

Emergency Motions

8. Emergency motions shall only be in order if:-

1. they deal only with urgent business which has arisen since the final date for submission of motions to the AGM; and
2. they were submitted as soon as was reasonably practical after the matters to which they relate arose or occurred; and
3. subject to Standing Order 9, they were submitted no later than 24 hours before the start of the AGM.

9. Condition (c) in Standing Order 8 shall not apply to emergency motions dealing with matters which arose or occurred so close to the date of the AGM that it would not have been reasonably practical to submit the motion 24 hours or more before the start of the AGM.

10. Emergency motions may be called by the President at any time; but the President shall not normally call an emergency motion if there are outstanding motions from earlier sections of the agenda which were not called due to lack of time.

Amendments to motions

11. Proposals for amendments to motions appearing in the agenda, which have been submitted at least 24 hours before the start of the AGM, shall be notified in the Second Report of the Procedure Sub-Committee and consideration of them shall be part of the business of the AGM.

12. Proposals for amendments to motions appearing in the agenda which are submitted less than 24 hours before the start of the AGM shall only be considered if:-

1. the Procedure Sub-Committee recommends that the AGM consider them; and
2. the AGM agrees to consider them.

13. Proposals for amendments to motions appearing on the agenda may not be made from the floor of the meeting.

14. Proposals for amendments to emergency motions, which have been submitted prior to the commencement of the AGM, shall be notified in the Third (Oral) Report of the Procedure Sub-Committee and consideration of them shall be part of the business of the AGM.

15. Proposals for amendments to emergency motions may be made from the floor of the meeting, and consideration of them may form part of the business of the AGM if the AGM agrees to consider them.

16. The proposer of any motion (whether a motion appearing in the agenda or an emergency motion) in respect of which a proposal for amendment has been notified in either the Second or the Third Report of the Procedure Sub-Committee shall indicate, when moving the motion, whether or not he accepts the proposed amendment.

17. If the proposer of the motion accepts the proposed amendment then he shall move the motion as amended, and the AGM shall proceed to consider the amended motion.

18. If the proposer of the motion does not accept the proposed amendment then he shall move the motion as notified in the agenda (or, in the case of an emergency motion, as notified in the Second or Third Report of the Procedure Sub-Committee) and the President shall call the amendment and the AGM shall consider it and either accept or reject it before the AGM proceeds to consider the motion.

19. Only one amendment may be considered at a time. Where more than one proposed amendment to a motion has been notified, the President shall call them in such order as he sees fit; but in determining the order in which to call amendments he shall be guided by any recommendations which may have been made by the Procedure Sub-Committee.

20. Any amendment which is not moved when it is called by the President shall be deemed to have been considered by the AGM and lost.

21. Any amendment which is lost (or deemed to have been lost pursuant to Standing Order 20) may not be moved again during the AGM.

22. Any amendment which is carried shall form part of the substantive motion to be considered by the AGM.

Seconding and withdrawal of motions and amendments

23. It shall not be necessary to second any motion or amendment which is notified in the Agenda or the written reports of the Procedure Sub-Committee.

24. Any other motion or amendment shall be lost unless it be seconded when moved. The seconder must represent a different Centre from the proposer; and for the purposes of this Standing Order, Committee shall be deemed to be a Centre.

25. Motions and amendments, once moved, may only be withdrawn if the AGM agrees to the withdrawal.

Conduct of debate

26. The President shall conduct the debate in accordance with these Standing Orders. If a question arises which is not considered by Standing Orders, then the President shall rule on the action to be taken after taking such advice as he considers appropriate from the Convenor of the Procedure Sub-Committee.

27. Any ruling made by the President shall be final unless it be immediately challenged by a representative who moves “that the President’s ruling be rescinded”, in which case the President shall temporarily vacate the chair. The chair will thereupon be taken by the Deputy President or, if the Deputy President be unavailable, then by either the convenor of the Procedure Sub-Committee or (if he shall be unavailable, or conflicted by virtue of having advised the President on the ruling being challenged) by any member of the Procedure Sub-Committee. The motion to rescind the President’s ruling shall then be considered by the AGM and put to a vote before any further business is conducted. Such a motion shall only be carried if supported by two thirds of the representatives present and voting. When the result of the vote on the motion to rescind has been declared and any consequential ruling has been made, the President shall resume the chair and proceed in accordance with the decision of the AGM.

28. Speakers to motions and amendments will be limited to the times stated in the reports of the Procedure Sub-Committee, although these times may be extended at the discretion of the President.

29. The order of debate on any motion shall be as follows. The motion is first moved (and seconded, if seconding be required). If any amendments have been proposed which the mover does not accept, then the mover should anticipate any amendments in their speech. Where there are a large number of contested amendments, the mover may commence by asking the President to consider exercising his time limit; and in such a case the mover’s time for making his speech shall only start to be measured after the President has ruled on the request. Once the mover of the motion has made his speech (and the motion has been seconded, if necessary) then the first proposed amendment is called, moved, debated and voted on. This process is then repeated for any subsequent amendments. Once the fate of all proposed amendments has been determined, the motion (as altered by any amendments which have been carried) is debated. The mover of the motion may exercise a right of reply, should he so wish, once the President has either determined that no further speakers wish to speak to the motion or ruled that no further speeches may be made on the motion. Except as mentioned in Standing Order 35 (c), no other speaker shall be entitled to speak more than once in the debate or series of debates on a motion and any proposed amendments thereto.

30. Each speaker shall announce their name and Centre or, in the case of a member of Committee or the Procedure Sub-Committee, their name and office, before speaking on any point. Speakers shall confine their remarks to the proposition under discussion, and may be ruled out of order and required to vacate the lectern should they fail to do so. For the purposes of Standing Order 29, a speaker who has been required to vacate the lectern shall be considered to have spoken in the current debate, even though he may have made no remarks which are properly to be considered a part of that debate.

31. The President shall have a general discretion to declare any debate concluded and to invite the mover of the motion under debate to exercise his right of reply at any time. Such a ruling may only be challenged in accordance with Standing Order 27.

32. A debate may also be closed if:

1. a motion “that the vote be now taken” be carried. If such a motion be moved and seconded then it shall be put to the vote without discussion or amendment. Such a motion may not be moved or seconded by a representative who has previously spoken in the debate. If the motion be carried then the mover of the motion under debate may exercise a right of reply before that motion is put to a vote, but no other speeches shall be allowed; or
2. a motion “that the AGM proceed to next business” be carried. If such a motion be moved and seconded then it shall be put to the vote without discussion or amendment. Such a motion may not be moved or seconded by a representative who has previously spoken in the debate. If the motion be carried, then the AGM shall proceed forthwith to the next item of business on the agenda and the motion(s) under discussion shall be lost; or
3. a motion “that this motion be remitted to Committee” be carried. If such a motion be moved and seconded it may, at the discretion of the President, be open to debate but not to amendment. Such a motion may not be moved or seconded by a representative who has previously spoken in the debate. The mover of the motion which it is proposed to remit may exercise a right of reply at the conclusion of the motion to remit and before a vote is taken. If thereafter the motion to remit be carried, then the AGM shall proceed to the next business on the agenda. If the motion be lost, then the AGM shall continue with its consideration of the motion under debate, and the mover of that motion shall still be entitled to a right of reply at the conclusion of that debate irrespective of whether he exercised a right of reply in respect of the motion to remit.
4. 33. No motion for closure of debate may be moved other than those set out in Standing Order 32.

Composite Motions

34. The Procedure Sub-Committee may composite motions in order to expedite discussion. Composite motions shall be subject to the following additional rules of procedure:

1. A composite motion shall be regarded as comprising all motions within the composite.
2. A composite motion shall be moved by a representative from the Centre first named by the Procedure Sub-Committee as sponsors of the motions; or by a member of Committee if the Committee be the first-named sponsor.
3. Only the mover of a composite motion shall have the right of reply to the debate thereon.
4. A single vote shall be taken on a composite motion, and all motions contained within the composite shall be carried or lost in accordance with the outcome of that vote.
5. Any motion “that this motion be remitted to Committee” shall relate to the composite motion as a whole. No motion to remit some of the motions within the composite but not others may be moved.

Common Debate

35. The Procedure Sub-Committee may propose that a group of motions be dealt with by the AGM during a period of common debate. Such common debate shall be subject to the following additional rules of procedure:

1. All motions, composite motions and amendments within the common debate must be moved in the order in which the motions appear on the agenda before the commencement of the period of common debate.
2. During the period of common debate, speakers may address any or all of the motions in common debate; but no speaker may speak more than once in the period of common debate.
3. A motion to remit to Committee any of the motions within the common debate may be moved and discussed at any point during the debate, and in such event the debate and vote on remission of that motion must be concluded before common debate is resumed. As an exception to the general rule in Standing Order 29, a motion to remit may be moved by a representative who has already spoken during the period of common debate.
4. At the conclusion of the common debate, rights of reply shall be exercised in the order in which the motions were moved.
5. Voting on the motions and amendments shall be at the end of the common debate and in the order in which the motions appear on the agenda.
6. A motion “that the vote be now taken” may only be moved once all the motions in the common debate have been moved. Such a motion shall apply to all the motions covered by the common debate. If such a motion be carried then the voting shall nto commence until all rights of reply have been exercised.
7. A motion “that the AGM proceed to next business” shall not be moved before all the motions in the common debate have been moved. If such a motion be carried then all motions in the common debate shall fall in accordance with Standing Order 32 (b), and the AGM shall proceed forthwith to the next business on the agenda.

Suspension of Standing Orders

36. These Standing Orders or any part of them may be suspended if a motion “that Standing Orders be suspended to permit …” be carried. Such a motion shall only be carried if supported by two thirds of the representatives present and voting.

Motions of Order

37. Motions of Order calling for the adjournment or closure of the AGM shall only be put to a vote if the President so decides (or if the President’s ruling that the motion not be put to the vote should be rescinded in accordance with Standing Order 27). Such a motion shall only be carried if supported by two thirds of the representatives present and voting.

Voting

38. Any motion which is put to a vote shall be carried by a simple majority of representatives present and voting EXCEPT FOR those motions which require a two-thirds vote in accordance with Standing Orders 27, 36 and 37.

39. Voting shall be by a show of voting cards or, if voting cards have not been issued, by a show of hands. If the President considers the result to be clear beyond doubt, then he may declare the motion carried or lost without counting the votes. In other cases, the votes shall be counted by scrutineers appointed by the AGM.

40. For the avoidance of doubt, if the scrutineers are themselves representatives, then they shall not be deprived of their right to cast a vote by virtue of their appointment as scrutineers. Where the scrutineers or either of them wish to cast a vote, they shall disclose their votes to one another and record them before they proceed to count the remaining votes.