Official-informals are a hybrid consultation format used primarily in UN General Assembly and ECOSOC subsidiary bodies, as well as in treaty negotiations. They sit between formal meetings (where the rules of procedure apply, interpretation is provided in all six official languages, and verbatim or summary records are kept) and informal-informals (small, off-the-record drafting huddles among interested delegations).
In an official-informal, the facilitator or chair convenes the full membership, conference services are usually provided, and interpretation is typically available, but no decisions are taken and no records of national positions are formally adopted. The format is designed to allow delegates to negotiate text — often a draft resolution or outcome document — with greater flexibility than a formal session permits, while still ensuring transparency and equal access for all delegations.
Key features:
- No voting and no formal procedural motions.
- Bracketed text is typically displayed on screen and edited in real time.
- Statements are shorter and more negotiating in tone than formal interventions.
- Civil society and observers may or may not be admitted, at the chair's discretion.
The format is heavily used during the annual Main Committee sessions of the GA (notably the Second, Third, and Fifth Committees) and in processes such as the negotiation of the post-2015 development agenda. When official-informals stall, facilitators often shift to informal-informals — smaller, invitation-based meetings without interpretation — to broker compromise language, then return to the official-informal to present the result to the full membership.
For delegates, mastering the register shift between formal interventions and the more conversational official-informal mode is a core diplomatic skill: language is still on the record in practice, but flexibility and willingness to move off prepared statements is expected.
Example
During the 2015 negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals, co-facilitators convened repeated official-informals of the General Assembly to consolidate Member State input on the draft outcome document.