The Commission operates according to a plan approved, modified, and supplemented by the Council of People's Commissars. In this plan are determined the destination of the principal groups of cargo and the comparative urgency of evacuation of one or another group.

At the head of the Commission is appointed an extraordinary plenipotentiary, endowed with dictatorial powers. Members of the Commission have consultative voice and have the right to submit questions (upon voting, if not fewer than 1/3 of the total number of members votes for this) to the CPC.