How the CGPM votes on a draft resolution
Key facts
- The convocation of 13 January 2026 was addressed to the embassies in Paris of the States Parties to the Metre Convention. [1]Official
- The list of delegates entitled to vote is established at the meeting itself, as item 6 of the provisional agenda. [1]Official
- States Parties were asked to send the composition and credentials of their delegations to the Director of the BIPM by 28 September 2026. [1]Official
- The votes on all resolutions are a single agenda item, number 25, after the drafts have been presented and delegates have made their own proposals. [1]Official
- The 28th CGPM is scheduled for 13–15 October 2026 and is to be held in a hybrid format, in person and remotely. [2]Official
The General Conference on Weights and Measures is a diplomatic conference, not a scientific committee. Its members are states, and the invitation goes through embassies. The convocation of the 28th meeting was addressed to the embassies in Paris of the States Parties to the Metre Convention, to the President of the Académie des sciences and to the members of the CIPM [1]Official.
This page follows that document through the order of business, because that is the only public description of how the lunar time draft reaches a vote.
Who is in the room
Delegations are appointed by their states. The convocation asks States Parties to send the composition and credentials of their delegations to the Director of the BIPM by Monday 28 September 2026 [1]Official. Credentials are then presented at the meeting, before the numbered agenda begins [1]Official.
The conference is chaired by the President of the Académie des sciences of France, under Article 4 of the Metre Convention [1]Official. The meeting itself was convened by the CIPM under Article 7 of the Regulations annexed to the Convention [1]Official.
The 28th meeting is to be held in a hybrid format, with participation in person and remotely. The CIPM has proposed a Special Procedure to regulate that, and the conference considers it at the opening session [1]Official.
The order of business, stage by stage
The provisional agenda is Annex 2 of the convocation. The stages below are its own items, in its own order, with the lunar time draft in place [1]Official.
| Stage | What happens | Agenda item | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credentials | Delegates present credentials before the numbered items | before 1 | [1]Official |
| Voting list | The conference establishes the list of delegates entitled to vote | 6 | [1]Official |
| Agenda | The conference approves the agenda | 7 | [1]Official |
| Special Procedure | The hybrid-format procedure is considered | 8 | [1]Official |
| Reports | The CIPM President, the BIPM Director and the Consultative Committee Presidents report | 9 to 13 | [1]Official |
| The drafts | Each draft resolution is taken in turn; lunar time is item 17 | 14 to 19 | [1]Official |
| Proposals | Delegates may put their own proposals | 24 | [1]Official |
| Votes | Votes on all resolutions, in one item | 25 | [1]Official |
Two features of that order matter for lunar time. The draft is discussed at item 17 but not voted there: all votes happen together at item 25 [1]Official. And delegates may bring proposals of their own at item 24, after every draft has been presented [1]Official.
What member states could do before the meeting
The convocation sets two dates for the States Parties. Proposals were to be presented through diplomatic channels by 31 May 2026, so that material reaches every State Party within the four-month limit set by Resolution 10 of the 9th meeting of the CGPM in 1948 [1]Official. Support for the proposed Special Procedure was to be indicated to the CIPM Secretary by the same date [1]Official.
What the convocation does not say
It does not state a voting threshold. The document names the item at which votes are taken and the item at which the voting list is established, and it stops there [1]Official. We do not fill that gap with a guess: no majority rule is quoted on this site until a source states one.
It also does not predict an outcome. A draft can be carried, amended on the floor, or left aside, and the conference has not met [1]Official. The CIPM record shows the same thing from the committee side: two decisions moved the lunar draft forward and refined its wording, and neither of them is a vote of the conference [3]Official.
What a carried resolution becomes
The convocation itself shows what a carried draft turns into. It observes a four-month limit on circulating material, and gives the source of that limit as Resolution 10 of the 9th meeting of the CGPM in 1948 [1]Official. A resolution of this conference stays on the record and is still followed decades later. That is why the lunar draft is worth reading before a vote rather than after one.
What the text would settle, and what it would leave open, is set out in what Draft Resolution D proposes. The two other time drafts at the same meeting are in three time resolutions at the 2026 CGPM [2]Official, and both possible outcomes are in what happens after the vote.
The document page for Draft Resolution D holds the quoted titles, and the standards tracker records the conference as the next dated milestone. The rest of our coverage is in the lunar time news hub.
Sources
Last verified