Inclusion of Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees and inclusion of Arabic among the official and the working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees: amendments to rules 51 to 59 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly

UN General Assembly, Inclusion of Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees and inclusion of Arabic among the official and the working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees: amendments to rules 51 to 59 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly, A/RES/3191, UN General Assembly, 18 December 1973, https://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/unga/1973/en/9879 [accessed 22 January 2025]
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XXVIII. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE SIXTH COMMITTEE
3191. Inclusion of Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees and inclusion of Arabic among the official and the working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees: amendments to rules 51 to 59 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly

The General Assembly, Having regard to its decision to include Chinese among the working languages of the General Assembly and to amend accordingly the relevant provisions of the rules of procedure of the Assembly,[1] Having regard to its decision to include Arabic among the official and the working languages of the General Assembly and its Main Committees and to amend accordingly the relevant provisions of the rules of procedure of the Assembly,[2] Having considered the notes by the Secretary-General,[3] Decides, with effect from 1 January 1974:

(a) To replace rules 51 to 59 of the rules of procedure of -the General Assembly by the following rules:

"VIll. LANGUAGES

"Official and working languages "Rule 51

"Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish shall be both the official and the working languages of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees. Arabic shall be both an official and a working language of the General Assembly and its Main Committees.

"Interpretation "Rule 52

"Speeches made in any of the six languages of the General Assembly shall be interpreted into the other five languages, provided that interpretation from and into Arabic shall be made only in the Assembly and in its Main Committees.

"Rule 53

"Any representative may make a speech in a language other than the languages of the General Assembly. In this case, he shall himself provide for interpretation into one of the languages of the General Assembly or of the committee concerned. Interpretation into the other languages of the General Assembly or of the committee concerned by the interpreters of the Secretariat may be based on the interpretation given in the first such language.

"Languages of verbatim and summary records "Rule 54

"Verbatim or summary records shall be drawn up as soon as possible in the languages of the General Assembly, provided that such records shall be drawn up in Arabic only for the plenary meetings of the Assembly and for the meetings of the Main Committees.

"Languages of the Journal of the United Nations "Rule 55

"During the sessions of the General Assembly, the Journal of the United Nations shall be published in the languages of the Assembly.

"Languages of resolutions and other documents "Rule 56

"All resolutions and other documents shall be published in the languages of the General Assembly, provided that publication in Arabic of such documents shall be limited to those of the Assembly and its Main Committees.

"Publications in languages other than the languages of the General Assembly "Rule 57

"Documents of the General Assembly, its committees and its subcommittees shall, if the Assembly so decides, be published in any language other than the languages of the Assembly or of the committee concerned.";

(b) To renumber the subsequent rules accordingly.

2206th plenary meeting,
18 December 1973
[1] See resolution 3189 (XXVIII). [2] See resolution 3190 (XXVIII). [3] A/C.6/L.961 and A/C.6/L.976.
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