Security Council Rules

Order of Precedence of Rules: Security Council

Rule	Second	Debatable	Vote Required	Interrupt Speaker	Description
Quorum	–	–	–	–	All 15 member countries must be present
Voting	–	–	–	–	9 votes required for majority. A no vote by any of the 5 permanent members on a substantive issue vetoes the resolution
Presidential Statement	–	–	–	–	Expresses council’s thoughts without passing a formal resolution.
Adoption by Consensus	–	–	–	–	Unanimous adoption
Point of Order	No	No	None	Yes	Used to point out a misuse of the rules
Point of Information	No	No	None	No	Ask any rules or non-rules related question of the chair, or gain a clarification
Point of Inquiry	No	No	None	No	Ask a question of a speaker at the end of their speech, prior to their yielding the floor
Suspension of the Meeting	No	No	Majority	No	Recess the meeting for a specific period of time – often for caucus
Adjournment of the Meeting	No	No	Majority	No	End the meeting
Closure of Debate	No	Yes	Majority	No	Ends debate on any issue open to debate and brings it to an immediate vote
Consultative Session	No	Yes	Majority	No	Informal debate. Must include time limit.

Set the Working Agenda	No	Yes	Majority	No	First order of business at the beginning of each day.
Add an item to the Working Agenda	No	Yes	Majority	No	Add a new topic to the bottom of the Working Agenda
Change the order of Consideration of Agenda	No	Yes	Majority	No	Bring an item already in the agenda to the floor for substantive debate
Set the Speaker’s Time	No	Yes	Majority	No	Set or change the speakers’ time limit
Division of the Question	No	Yes	Majority	No	Divide a resolution or amendment into 2 or more clauses, each to be voted on separately after closure of debate
Consideration of Amendments	No	No	None	No	Bring an amendment to the floor for decision
Consideration of Resolutions	No	No	Majority	No	Consider a resolution that has the requisite number of signatures
Party to the Dispute	–	–	–	–	Requests participation by nonmember of the Security Council

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