United Nations Correspondence Manual - UNU

Specific types
of correspondence
20
(c) A minister for foreign affairs;
(d) A ministry of foreign affairs.
Where direct correspondence with any other government officer or office has been
authorized, it must be in letter form. The note verbale is not normally used for
communications with other organizations in the United Nations system and should
never be used for communications with non-governmental organizations or the public.
117. Typical uses of notes verbales include:
(a) The exchange of information between the United Nations and Governments
or permanent missions;
(b) The transmission of decisions or recommendations of United Nations organs;
(c) Requests for and acknowledgements of information and documents;
(d) The transmission of information regarding the time and place of meetings;
(e) The acknowledgement of changes in the membership of permanent missions
or delegations;
(f) Other requests or acknowledgements to Governments relating to the substantive
work of the United Nations.
2. Language
118. Notes verbales addressed to officials or missions of Member States or to officials
or missions of non-member States maintaining permanent observer missions at
Headquarters should be written in the working language indicated in the Correspondence
Unit worksheet (form EOR.2, see exhibit 19). Where two languages are indicated,
the first should normally be used.
3. Style
(a) Salutation
119. In a note verbale, the salutation forms part of the opening sentence of the text
and begins with the regular paragraphing. In selecting the form of the salutation, it
is important to note the following instructions:
(a) A note verbale may be written in the name of the Secretary-General or of the
Secretariat, but not in the name of a department or of an official of the Secretariat;
(b) When a note verbale is sent in the name of the Secretary-General, it is
addressed to a person, for example:
“ The Secretary-General of the United Nations presents his compliments to the
Permanent Representative of … to the United Nations and has the honour to
…” (see exhibit 7);
(c) When a note verbale is sent in the name of the Secretariat, it is addressed
to an office, not a person, for example:
“ The Secretariat of the United Nations presents its compliments to the Permanent
Mission of … to the United Nations and has the honour to …” (see exhibit 9).