STANDING ORDERS - MEETING PROCEDURE


1. In these Standing Orders words importing the masculine shall include the 
feminine and "member" shall mean a person entitled to vote at the meeting.

2. These Standing Orders shall be applicable to all meetings of the Federation 
but may be relaxed from time to time during a meeting if no objection is raised 
by the chairman or any member.

3. Any person desiring to speak at a National Conference of the Federation shall 
precede his remarks by stating his name and the authority by which he is 
authorised to be present.

4. All remarks shall be addressed to the chairman.

5. All debate shall take place on a motion or amendment before the chair.

6. If the chairman indicates his intention to address the meeting, all persons 
shall resume their seats and remain silent.

7. The chairman may require a member to discontinue his remarks if they are 
irrelevant or substantially repetitious.

8. If required to do so by the chairman or the minute-taker, the proposer of any 
motion or amendment shall submit it in writing.

9. The chairman shall decline to accept any motion or amendment: 

a. outside the scope of the notice of the meeting;

b. negative in character, the carrying of which would not alter the status quo; 
or 

c. irrelevant, ambiguous, disrespectfully worded or ungrammatical.

10. A motion before the chair shall not be withdrawn if any member objects to 
its withdrawal.

11. No person other than the proposer of a motion or amendment shall speak to it 
until it has been established that another person is willing to second it.

12. A person seconding a motion or amendment without speaking to it may reserve 
his right to speak to it subsequently.

13. Subject to the seconder's option to speak immediately after the mover, the 
chairman shall call on speakers alternately for and against the motion or 
amendment. 

14. No person shall speak more than once to any question, except that the mover 
of a motion (but not an amendment to a motion) shall have a right of reply which 
shall not introduce any new argument and which shall close the debate.

15. The mover of the original motion may not move an amendment but may speak to 
all amendments.

16. An amendment shall constitute a separate question from the original motion 
and from any other amendment.

17. Any substantive motion that is before the chair shall be disposed of before 
a further substantive motion is moved and any amendment that is before the chair 
shall be disposed of before a further amendment is moved.

18. A person wishing to ask a question of any speaker shall do so through the 
chairman at the discretion of the chairman.

19. Provided that no speaker is addressing the chairman, a member claiming to 
have been misrepresented or misunderstood shall be entitled to make a personal 
explanation but in the course of such explanation shall not debate the merits of 
any proposal.

20. Any member may raise a point of order at the time of an alleged 
irregularity; the point shall be open to discussion at the end of which the 
chairman shall give a ruling.

21. Any member disagreeing with a ruling of the chairman may move: "that the 
ruling be dissented from"; such motion shall be put forthwith without debate.

22. A member may at any time move a motion to limit the period for which the 
speaker may be further heard; such motion shall be put without amendment or 
debate.

23. A member may move that the debate (or meeting) be adjourned to a specific 
time and place; discussion shall be in order, but the mover shall have no right 
of reply and only amendments as to time and place shall be permitted.

24. In the case of disorder arising or the lapsing of the quorum, the chairman 
shall forthwith declare the meeting adjourned and, subject to any prevailing 
rule or resolution, shall fix the time and place for resumption.

25. Speakers may be interrupted by members only in the following circumstances:

a. on a call for a quorum;

b. on a point of order relating to a breach of rules, irrelevant, improper or 
repetitious remarks or exceeding the time limit;

c. to move the closure of the debate; or

d. to move a motion to limit the period for which the speaker may be further 
heard.

26. Standing Orders 1. to 25. or any of them may be suspended by the passing of 
a motion to that effect which shall be open to debate.

27. No person shall reflect on a resolution or rule of the Federation except 
when speaking to a motion (of which due notice was given) to rescind, amend or 
repeal such resolution or rule.

28. Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, any decision made by a 
validly constituted meeting shall not be void by reason only of a departure from 
these Standing Orders which was not detected until after the decision had been 
made.

29. Alterations to these Standing Orders may be made only by the same procedure 
required for the alteration of By-Laws of the Federation.

30. Any matter pertaining to the procedure to be followed during meetings of the 
Federation and not dealt with in these Standing Orders or the Constitution of 
the Federation shall (subject to Standing Order 21.) be governed by rulings of 
the chairman.