United Nations (UN)

The Regulations for the Control and Limitation of Documentation, ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2, define documents and publications:

• A document is a text submitted to a principal organ or a subsidiary organ of the United Nations for consideration by it, usually in connection with item(s) on its agenda.
• The term 'United Nations publication' refers to any written material which is issued by the United Nations to the general public.

Each UN document has a unique symbol at the top right of the document or on the cover page

First component

The first component indicates the organ to which the document is submitted or the organ that is issuing the document.

Some bodies have a special series symbol that does not reflect the parent organ. For example:

Second component

Secondary and tertiary components indicate subsidiary bodies:

Special components

Special components reflect the nature of the document:

Final component

The final component reflects modifications to the original text:

Session or year component

Many document symbols include sessional or year components following the body elements.

In 1976 the General Assembly began the practice of including the session information in all document symbols. Before 1976, this information was not included in most document symbols. Session information appeared in Roman numerals in parentheses after the symbol for resolutions only. After 1976, other organs adopted similar practices.

Subsidiary bodies generally follow the practice of the parent organ.

A more exhaustive list of symbols can be found in ST/LIB/SER.B/5/Rev.5, United Nations Document Series Symbols, 1946-1996.

Charter

Daily Journal

Letters

Meeting Records

Official Records

Presidential Statements

Press Releases

Reports

Resolutions & Decisions

Resources

Voting