Documents management
Documentation and publishing services
The Department for General Assembly and Conference Management provides the following documentation and publishing services:
- Editing
- Translation
- Text-processing and desktop publishing
- Printing
- Distribution
- Official, written meeting records
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For general enquiries regarding documents, please contact the Documents Management Section (12th floor, Secretariat Building; tel.: +1 212 963 6579,?email).
For general enquiries regarding printing and distribution of documents and related services, please contact the Meetings Support Section (L1B-100, first basement, Library Building; tel.: +1 212 963 1483 or +1 212 963 7348,?email).
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Translation and printing of documents
Delegations wishing to submit documents for consideration by a United Nations body should present them to the Secretary-General or to the secretary of the body concerned. The staff of the Documents Management Section are not authorized to accept documents for translation or reproduction directly from delegations.
The categories of documents are as follows:
- The “General” series.
- The “Limited” series (L, followed by the serial number), comprising documents of a temporary nature, such as draft resolutions and amendments thereto. When such documents are submitted during a meeting and are required urgently, advance versions marked “Provisional” are translated and reproduced immediately by special arrangement and distributed to participants in English only. Edited texts and revised translations are issued later.
- The “Restricted” series (R, followed by the serial number), comprising only those documents which, owing to the nature of their content, are not made public at the time of issuance. Such documents are not available on the?Official Document System.
- Conference room papers?or working papers?are informal papers, in English or the language of submission. They are used during a meeting and distributed only to participants and other interested recipients attending the meeting. These documents may be made available by the substantive secretariats on their websites or by other electronic means. They are not available on the?Official Document System.
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Document planning
The Documents Management Section manages the upstream planning of documents and their processing, once received. It interacts with all author departments within the Secretariat, the conference management teams of intergovernmental bodies?and permanent missions to ensure that manuscripts are submitted with a high degree of predictability. Based on the slotting system, which was instituted in 2002, it prepares workload forecasts for processing units within the Department to serve as the basis for capacity planning, the goal of which is to ensure the most efficient use of resources and timely issuance of documents to intergovernmental bodies. The Section functions as the clearinghouse for documents to be considered by the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary bodies in New York, among others. It reviews the resolutions adopted and decisions taken by intergovernmental bodies and verifies that all pre-session parliamentary documents – those required for the consideration of deliberative bodies during their sessions – are prepared and submitted in conformity with the legislative mandates. The mandate is the “reason for being” of the document: the request from an intergovernmental body for information on a particular topic that it wishes to examine at a given session and on the basis of which it takes action.?
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Document processing
For downstream document processing, the Section uses a document management system called??to track and manage the progress of each manuscript through all links of the chain from submission to issuance as an official document.
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How to submit a manuscript in gDoc
Manuscripts destined for processing by the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management must first be routed to the Section through?the online application gDoc. In order to access the system, first-time users must pre-register for an account at?
Once approved for access, submitters can initiate a request for service by filling out an electronic D2 form.?This form contains relevant information or metadata pertaining to the manuscript, such as symbol, title, author information and?special instructions. If the document being submitted is deemed extrabudgetary, it is at this step that the submitter must also provide funding information.
Upon completion of the D2 form, the submitter can finalize the request by uploading the manuscript to gDoc and sending it to the Section for registration. After registration, the manuscript is forwarded to the relevant service provider(s) for processing.
Submitters are notified by email once a service request has been completed. Delivery of the final product is dictated by the type of manuscript submitted and policies governing distribution.?Parliamentary documentation will be issued electronically and simultaneously in the six official?languages of the United Nations. Hard copies may also be provided based on entitlements.? Non-parliamentary documents such as fair-copy translations can be retrieved directly from gDoc or in certain cases, emailed directly back to the submitter.
Please refer to the Department’s?gDoc submission guidelines?for additional information, as well as step-by-step directions on using the application.
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Distribution of documents for delegations
Predetermined quantities of specified parliamentary?documents?issued?at?Headquarters will be distributed daily and will be available for collection at the distribution pick-up area, on the 1B level of the Library Building. Please note that any changes to the quantities of documents requested for distribution to delegations should be submitted in writing at least two working days prior to the date required and addressed to the Chief of the Meetings Support Section (email).
Documents-on-demand services (printing of documents, assistance with access to online services, etc.) are provided through the Documents Assistance Centre (CB-0264) and at the Documents Counter (S-1B-032).
A limited number of copies of documents containing draft proposals for action during meetings in progress will be available in the conference rooms.
Alternatively, requests for hard copies of documents may be made by?email?and should specify the document symbol, the languages required, the quantity of copies requested and the physical delivery address.
Only United Nations documents may be distributed during meetings.
Any additional documentation needed may be retrieved online through the?. Documents are also available through?the??service, through which delegates can sign up to receive email alerts containing web links to the latest edition of the??and to documents issued daily at Headquarters.
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Communications from Member States for issuance as documents of the General Assembly
Delegations requesting issuance of communications as documents of the General Assembly should ensure that they are addressed to the Secretary-General and signed by the permanent representative or chargé d’affaires?a.i.?of the permanent mission to the United Nations. The communications should indicate the session of the General Assembly and the number and title of the agenda item under which circulation is requested, using the latest agenda.
Electronic versions in Microsoft Word format should be sent to the?Documents Management Section?to facilitate the processing of communications. If versions in other official languages of the United Nations are available, they should be included, with a clear indication of the original language and which language versions are to be used for reference only. Materials that are accessible to the public on websites or through the media, such as statements, press releases and images, should be cited rather than included in the communications.
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Contact us
For further information, call +1 212 963 6579 or?email.
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Resources
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