The legal basis of the Commission is Art. 90 of the First Additional Protocol of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. This article provides for the establishment of an International Fact-Finding Commission if twenty States Parties have agreed to accept the competence of the Commission.

In March 1992 the first constitutive Annual Meeting of the Commission took place and in an additional meeting on 8 July 1992, the members of the Commission adopted pursuing to Article 90 Paragraph 6 of the First Additional Protocol the internal Rules of the Commission.

At the International Conference concerning the Financial Procedures for the administrative expenses of the Commission from the 8 to 9 September 1994, the States Parties have adopted a set of financial regulations. These regulations replace the provisional arrangement for the funding of the Commission's administrative expenses of 25 June 1991 which was limited in time until 30 September 1994.