Article 5

Rules of Procedure

1. The Bharat Pacific Consortium must meet every year in a regular session.

   
   

2. Closing date: The Consortium shall, at the beginning of each session, fix a closing date for the session, on the recommendation of the Liaison Services.

   
   

3. Notification of regular session: The President of the Conference/ Chairperson shall notify the Members of The Consortium, at least 10 days in advance, of the opening of a regular session.

   
   

4. Temporary adjournment of session: The Consortium may decide at any session to adjourn temporarily and resume its meetings at a later date.

   
   

5. Notification of special session

   1. The Chairperson shall notify the Members and the President of the Advisory Council, at least 14 days in advance, of the opening of a special session convened at the request of the Secretariat, and at least 10 days in advance in the case of a session convened at the request of a majority of the Members or upon the concurrence of a majority in the request of any Member.

   2. In the case of an emergency or a special session convened, the Chairperson shall notify Members at least 12 hours before the opening of the session.

      
      

6. General principles

   1. The meetings of The Consortium shall be held in public unless the Advisory Council or the Secretariat decides that exceptional circumstances require that the meeting be held in private.

   2. Meetings of other committees and subcommittees shall also be held in public unless the organ concerned decides otherwise.

      
      

7. Private meetings

   1. All decisions of the Consortium taken at a private meeting must be announced at an early public meeting of the Consortium.

   2. At the close of each private meeting of The Bharat Pacific Consortium, and of the Committees, Forums and groups, the President of the Advisory Council may issue a communiqué through the Liaison Services.