Article 1. TERMS OF REFERENCE
According to article 4.1 of the statutes of SIM, the responsibilities of the General Assembly are to:
a) Elect the SIM President.
b) Define the policies of SIM,
c) Review and Approve modifications to the Statute and the Rules of Order, when necessary.
d) Review and accept the President’s report.
e) Ratify, by a vote of simple majority of the Members present, the resolutions set forth by the Council
f) Approve the admission of new members and participants.

Article 2. SCOPE
These Rules of Order apply to ordinary and extraordinary General Assembly meetings.

Article 3. ATTENDANCE AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1. SIM members and Participants may attend the SIM General Assembly, (see Chapter 3 of the SIM statute for definitions).

2. The members of the General Assembly are the official representatives to SIM. If a permanent delegate can not attend the General Assembly, another delegate duly designated, may represent the Member and vote during the General Assembly.

3. Each Delegate may be supported at the General Assembly Meetings by advisors and experts but only the Delegate may vote.

4. The members of the Assembly may invite external observers to SIM, with the prior approval of the President.

Article 4. COORDINATION.
1. The General Assembly shall be Chaired by the President of SIM. If absent, the Council shall designate one of its members to Chair the Assembly.

Members of the SIM Council (the Coordinators of each of the five Subregions, the Executive Secretary, the Technical Advisor and the Chairmen of the Permanent Committees) are expected to be present at the General Assembly.

2. The Chairperson of the Assembly, in consultation with the Executive Secretary, shall appoint a Recording Secretary who is responsible for:

-The preparation of formal resolutions during the General Assembly meeting.

-The preparation of the minutes of the Assembly

Article 5. SECRETARIAL SERVICES
Secretarial support services for the General Assembly shall be provided by the country hosting the Assembly.

Article 6. MEETING CALL
The call for the extraordinary meetings of the General Assembly shall be made by the President of SIM, at least six weeks before the proposed date.

Article 7. QUORUM
1. The General Assembly meetings can be held with the presence of at least 50% of the delegates, with at least 25 % of the delegates of each of the subregions defined in article 2.2, of the SIM Statute.

Article 8. AGENDA
1. For ordinary General Assembly meetings:

The proposals for the agenda shall be sent to the President, not later than two months before the proposed date of the meeting.

The President shall send a proposed Agenda to the delegates at least one month before the meeting.

2. For extraordinary General Assembly meetings, the proposed agenda shall be sent to the delegates together with the call for the meeting.

3. The Agenda for the General Assembly is prepared by the SIM Council.

Article 9. DEBATES.
The General Assembly is conducted according to the Robert’s Rules of Order.

Article 10. RESOLUTIONS
All proposals that require a decision by the General Assembly must be submitted in the form of a written resolution.
2. Decisions on all resolutions will be made by a simple majority vote of Members present.

Article 11. - ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT
The announcement for the election of the President and the call for nominations will be sent by the Executive Secretary to the SIM Members at least three months prior to the General Assembly Meeting.
Nominations for the Office of the President must be submitted by the interested institution/country to the Executive Secretary at least one month before the General Assembly. The nominations should include:
a letter from the institution/country expressing their willingness and ability to provide the support necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the President of SIM, including the Secretariat for SIM,
a proposed Plan of Action for the next two years of SIM activities,
endorsements from the appropriate government organizations of the country.
Elections at the General Assembly are carried out by secret ballot; a simple majority vote of the Members present is required for the election.
If none of the candidates receives more that 50% of the votes, a second round of balloting will be held among the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes during the first round.

Article 12. MINUTES
1. The minutes of the General Assembly meeting, shall be prepared by the Recording Secretary. The draft shall be sent to the Council members within one month of the General Assembly Meeting, for the approval of the SIM Council.

2. The Council will send a copy of the minutes approved by the Council to each member of SIM, within three months of the General Assembly.

3. The minutes will present for approval at the next ordinary General Assembly meeting.

Article 13. MODIFICATIONS
Modifications to the present Rules of Order can only be made by the General Assembly by a vote of two-thirds majority of SIM Members.

The present Rules of Order for the General Assembly of the SIM, were approved in the meeting held on the 23rd of September of 1998, in the city of Heredia, Costa Rica.