The organization has no power to set radiation standards nor to make recommendations in regard to nuclear testing.

It was established solely to "define precisely the present exposure of the population of the world to ionizing radiation".

A small secretariat, located in Vienna and functionally linked to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), organizes the annual sessions and manages the preparation of documents for the committee's scrutiny.

Originally, in 1955, India and the Soviet Union wanted to add several neutral and communist states, such as mainland China.

The committee was originally based in the Secretariat Building in New York City but moved to the United Nations Office at Vienna in 1974.