The Board is responsible, 'inter alia', for approving safeguards agreements and for approving publication of IAEA safety standards.

The Board generally meets five times per year: in March and June, twice in September (before and after the General Conference) and in November.

[2] The Board consists of 35 IAEA Member States, each with a single vote.

Thirteen are designated by the previous Board as being either among the ten countries most advanced in atomic energy technology or the most advanced from any of the eight regional groups not represented by the first ten.

Twenty-two Board Members are elected by the IAEA General Conference to two-year terms, eleven each year, and twenty IAEA member states are elected to the Board by the General Conference based on the following geographic distribution: Two additional members are also elected, one from each of the following sets of areas: The 35 members for the period 2023–2024 are: Algeria, Armenia, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Namibia, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay and Ukraine.