The organs of the union were:

Permanent organs
The conference of plenipotentiaries
The administrative council
The general secretariat
Any specialized organ proposed and approved by the conference of plenipotentiaries

Non-permanent organs
The committee of experts
Administrative and technical conferences

The Conference of Plenipotentiaries

The conference of plenipotentiaries was the supreme organ of the union. It consisted of the delegations of Member States headed by the ministers in charge of telecommunications or of the duly accredited representatives of Member States. It was to meet in an ordinary session every four (4) years.

The administrative council

The administrative council consisted of member states elected for a four year period by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, having due regards to an equitable distribution of
seats among the various sub-regions of Africa as defined by the organization of African Union (OAU). It was to meet in ordinary session once a year, but could meet in extraordinary sessions at the request of a member state.

The council was, between the sessions of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries, the decision making body of the Union within the limits of the powers conferred on it by the Conference. The first ordinary session of the Administrative Council was held in Kinshasa in August 1978, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Philip Okundi of Kenya.

The first Administrative Council comprised thirteen Member States. This membership of 13 was increased to nineteen (19) by the extraordinary session of the PATU Conference of Plenipotentiaries held in Nairobi, Kenya in October 1982.

The general secretariat ¦as stipulated in the first convention of the Union, the general secretariat was headed by the Secretary General assisted by a Deputy Secretary General. both were elected by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries for a term of office extending to the next ordinary session of the conference and were eligible for re-election only once.

The general secretariat comprised of two departments: a) technical and b) operations, human resources and technical co-operation, and two divisions: a) administration and finance and b) conference, information and documentation.

The committee of experts

The committee of experts made up of experts from telecommunication administrations of Member States met prior to every session of the conference of Plenipotentiaries to prepare the latter’s work.



Administrative and Technical Conferences

The administrative and Technical Conferences were to deal with specific issues relating to regional and sub-regional telecommunications. They replaced the earlier conference
of African telecommunication administrations.