Nowadays, appointments are made on the nomination of the President of Iceland and that of a "five-member council."

[2] The Grand Master and the Chairman of the Order Council then sign the Letters Patent, which are presented to the awards's recipients.

The Order has five classes:[3] The collar is gilded metal; it consists of links bearing the Icelandic coat-of-arms and blue-enamelled discs bearing the white falcon.

For the Grand Cross class it has the badge of the Order superimposed upon it.

For the Grand Knight with Star class it has a blue-enamelled central disc bearing the white falcon.