Informal documents are often distributed outside the meeting room by observers. Observers generally may not attend. On the instructions of the President or Chair, delegates may meet in private to discuss specific matters in order to consolidate different views, reach a compromise, and produce an agreed proposal, often in the form of a written text. In-session documents that contain draft reports and texts for adoption by the COP or the subsidiary bodies, usually in all 6 UN languages. A protocol is linked to an existing convention, but it is a separate and additional agreement that must be signed and ratified by the Parties to the convention.
Protocols typically strengthen a convention by adding new, more detailed commitments.
A Party may accept a decision of the COP while noting its reservations and concerns for the record. However, no reservations may be made to the Convention itself or to the Protocol. They are directives that guide, opinions rather than permanent legal acts. The rules that govern the proceedings of the COP, including the procedures for decision-making and participation. The head of state or government, the foreign minister, or another designated official indicates his or her country's agreement with the adopted text of the Convention or the Protocol and its intention to become a Party by signing.