I.         TERMS OF REFERENCE 

1. ASEAN Committees shall be established in countries having dialogue with ASEAN to safeguard and advance ASEAN interests through joint consultation with the host governments.
2. An ASEAN Committee shall be the outpost of ASEAN in the capital of the host country. It shall be directly responsible to and shall act only upon the instructions of the ASEAN Standing Committee.
3. It shall establish and maintain contact and close coordination, on behalf of ASEAN, with relevant officials of the Foreign Ministry and other government agencies of the host country.
4. It shall collectively, or through its Chairman, make representations with the government of the host country upon the direction of the ASEAN Standing Committee.
5. It shall keep the ASEAN Standing Committee and the coordinating country as well as the ASEAN Secretariat informed of relevant developments in host country and recommend measures deemed necessary.
6. It shall seek prior approval of the ASEAN Standing Committee before, as an ASEAN group, holding discussions with political parties or engaging in political discussions with non-governmental organizations.
7. It shall seek prior approval of the Standing Committee before implementing any project which has financial implications.
8. It shall seek prior approval of the Standing Committee before seeking or initiating formal political discussions with the third country in which the ASEAN Committee is located.
9. It shall form working groups as deemed necessary to facilitate its work.

II.        GUIDELINES FOR ORGANIZATION

1. Each Committee shall be composed of Heads of Diplomatic Missions of the ASEAN member countries in the host country.
2. Each Committee shall be designated as follows: ASEAN XX Committee (XX = place). However in the case of the Bonn Committee, it shall be designated the Bonn ASEAN Committee (BAC) and in the case of Wellington Committee, the ASEAN Committee in Wellington (ACW).
3. The Committee shall elect a Chairman. The tenure of a Chairman shall be a maximum of six months. If a Chairman relinguishes the position before his full term ends, the succeeding Chairman shall assume the position and serve his six-month term as Chairman. The chairmanship shall rotate in the alphabetical order of ASEAN countries.
4. Only duly accredited Ambassadors / High Commissioners are eligible to become Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of ASEAN Committees in third countries.
5. The Ambassador / High Commissioner next in line for the chairmanship shall serve as Vice-Chairman and shall act on behalf on the Chairman in the latter’s absence.
6. The Chairman shall be responsible for coordination of activities and shall be the spokesman of the Committee.
7. The Committee shall have a Secretary to be designated by the Chairman from among the members of his Embassy staff. The Secretary shall be responsible for preparing and circulating the minutes of meetings, keeping the records, scheduling meetings and performing such other duties as the Committees shall specify. The Secretary’s term of office shall be coterminous with that of the Chairman designating him.
8. Each Committee shall have its seat at the premises of the mission of the Chairman.
9. The Committee shall meet regularly at least once a month or as often as deemed necessary.
10. In the event a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting, he may designate a member of his diplomatic staff to represent him.
11. The channel of communications shall be as follows: the ASEAN Committee in the third country shall use the facilities of the country chairing the ASEAN Standing Committee for the transmission of communications and documents to the Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee, furnishing copies thereof to the ASEAN Secretariat. The Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee shall circulate copies to the other member countries. This applies as well to all communications and documents intended for other ASEAN Committees.
12. Recommendations of a Committee to the ASEAN Standing Committee shall be by consensus.
13. The establishment of a Committee shall not preclude the setting up of other expert groups to deal with specific issues whenever deemed necessary or the continuation of the functions of the coordinating countries.
14. In countries with which ASEAN has no dialogue, a Committee may be established only after prior approval by the Standing Committee. In a country where not all ASEAN member countries have diplomatic missions, the establishment of a Committee must also have prior approval of the Standing Committee.
15. Where ASEAN Committees are already in existence, the guidelines and terms of reference formulated by the Standing Committee shall apply. Such Committees should act in line with the terms of reference and guidelines for organization. Where it is not possible for a Committee to do so, the attention of the Standing Committee should be drawn to these areas.

*(Adopted by the 2nd Meeting of the 13th ASEAN Standing Committee, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 17 October 1979)

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