The General Assembly is the PAU's highest authority.  It is comprised of the regular members (with a maximum of 27 in each Class) and the corresponding members (up to 36 in each Class).
The international members (limited to 41 in each class) are not obliged to participate in the General Assembly, but they are free to take part in all the meetings and scientific endeavors of the PAU. 

   The General Assembly elects the members of the Executive Board for a three-year term.  The officers making up the Executive Board include the President, two Vice-Presidents (one from the Warsaw area), the Secretary-General, and the Delegate-at-large from the General Assembly.  With the exception of the Delegate-at-large, all the elected officers must be confirmed by the President of the Republic of Poland.

   As previously stated, the PAU consists of 6 Classes, each of which has its own Executive Board, with a Director, a Deputy Director, and a Secretary; in some cases there is also a Deputy Secretary. 
Within each Class there are Commissions and Subcommissions, standing or ad-hoc, which, though they must be headed by a regular member of the PAU, may include persons who are not PAU members.

   The Classes hold monthly scientific meetings, where papers are read and freely discussed.  The PAU's activities are described and documented in the "PAU Annual", while summaries of the papers are published in the "Reports on Activities and Meetings". 

   Each of the Classes issues its own "Papers" or other publication series, publishing works that fall between the scientific purview of the Class, or other texts of scientific or scholarly value, especially historical sources.  The Commission as a general rule have their own series of "Works" or periodicals, according to their respective specialties.