For the past twenty years, the meetings have been held on the first Tuesday of each month, except in January. Of course, meetings can be convened at any time, if needed, and the Board can be contacted by phone in the event of some urgent matter. Such events are rare, though they have occurred occasionally in the past.
It has come to be regarded as a good thing, however, that policy decisions are, in normal circumstances, taken at meetings with a known schedule. Such a schedule for decision-making meetings, as well as for regular documents (such as the quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy) is increasingly the norm internationally.