The General Assembly (see Article 14 of COTIF 1999) is the highest decision-making body of OTIF. It is made up of representatives from all the Member States. The Secretary General convenes the General Assembly once every three years. In certain cases laid down in the Convention, the General Assembly may also be convened outside its normal cycle of meetings.


The General Assembly designates the members of the Administrative Committee as well as a deputy member for each member and elects the Member State which will provide the chairmanship of it for a period of three years. The General Assembly also elects the Secretary General for a period of three years. It fixes, for six-year periods, the maximum amount that the expenditure of the Organisation may reach in each budgetary period.


The General Assembly takes decisions on proposals to amend the Convention, in so far as they are not proposals that can be decided on by the Revision Committee.


It is also the responsibility of the General Assembly to take decisions about the conditions of accession of a regional economic integration organisation. Applications from States for accession and associate membership are only submitted to the General Assembly in the event of opposition from at least five Member States against the accession or associate membership.

In addition, the General Assembly is responsible for taking decisions about the taking on of other attributions by the Organisation and the transfer of attributions of the Organisation to another intergovernmental organisation.