The Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs serves as the Secretariat of the Credentials Committee of the General Conference at each of its sessions.
The Credentials Committee shall consist of nine members, who shall be elected by the General Conference on the proposal of the Temporary President. It shall elect its own Chairperson.
The Credentials Committee shall examine and report to the Conference without delay on the credentials of the delegations of Member States and Associate Members, of representatives of the United Nations and the specialized agencies, and of observers sent by non-Member States and other intergovernmental organizations.
The Committee shall inform the Conference whenever credentials are presented by delegations representing states that have not formally accepted the Constitution in accordance with Article XV thereof.
It shall also examine and report on the credentials of observers designated by international non-governmental or semi-governmental organizations admitted to the Conference in accordance with (Rule 6, paragraph 7, and Rule 7.
Credentials (Section IV of the Rules of Procedure of the General Conference)
The credentials of delegates and alternate delegates shall be issued by the head of the state, the head of the government or the Minister for Foreign Affairs. However, the Organization shall accept as valid credentials which have been signed by some other appropriate Minister when the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Member State concerned has filed with the Director-General a statement that such Minister is authorized to issue credentials.
The credentials of delegates and alternate delegates of Associate Members shall be issued by the competent authorities.
These credentials shall be communicated to the Director-General. The names of the head of the delegation, delegates and alternate delegates shall be communicated to the Director-General one week before the date of opening of the session.
The names of experts and advisers attached to delegations shall also be communicated to the Director-General.
The United Nations and the specialized agencies shall forward to the Director-General the names of their representatives, if possible one week before the date fixed for the opening of the session.
Members of the United Nations which are not Members of UNESCO, states which are not Members of the United Nations nor of UNESCO, intergovernmental organizations invited to the session and non-governmental and semi-governmental organizations approved for consultative arrangements, shall forward to the Director-General the names of their observers, if possible one week before the date fixed for the opening of the session
Any delegate, alternate delegate, observer or representative to whose admission a Member State or Associate Member has made objection shall be seated provisionally with the same rights as other delegates, alternate delegates, observers or representatives until the Credentials Committee has reported and the General Conference has given its decision.
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