Chapter 02 - Membership

A - Member Federations

2.1.

Members of FIDE are national chess federations which have principal authority over chess activities in their own countries and which have been admitted to FIDE as member-federations if they acknowledge the FIDE Statutes and develop activities not contrary to those statutes. Only one federation of each country can be affiliated to FIDE. In addition FIDE can grant the status of provisional member to chess federations, in accord with Article 2.7.
For new members, the country of the federation (with the same boundaries) must be a country or territory that is a member of the International Olympic Committee.

2.2.

The admission of a national chess federation as a member is effected through an application (Download Questionnaire). This application is to be submitted to the Secretariat. The provisional admittance is decided upon by the Executive Board/Presidential Board. Final admittance as a member is pronounced by the General Assembly after examination of the preconditions for admittance by the Executive Board/Presidential Board.  The application for admission must include all data, which will make evident that the statutory purpose and the previous activities of the applicant are in conformity with the FIDE Statutes.
The application for admission shall be accompanied by the official questionnaire of FIDE approved by the General Assembly, completely filled out, together with a copy of the statutes of the federation, approved or recognised by the authorities of the country, if the country's law so requires.
Decisions on the final admission of new federations shall be made before any other order of business, except elections.  A new member can fully participate in all meetings of FIDE, including the right to vote, from the moment it is accepted for membership by the General Assembly.

2.3.

Each member federation has one vote in the General Assembly; they are entitled to make use of the right to vote; they are authorised to submit proposals to FIDE; they are entitled to participate in all FIDE events, according to the regulations; they are also authorised to scrutinise, through the Verification Commission, the financial management of FIDE.

2.4.

The members must acknowledge and observe the statutes, regulations, resolutions and decisions of FIDE. They are also obliged to pay the membership fees and the other FIDE contributions fixed by the General Assembly at the designated time. Moreover they are obliged to support FIDE actively in all chess activities. Each member federation is required to send to the Secretariat any changes in its address or officers within one month of such change. Each member is required to send to the Secretariat at the latest by April 1st of each year a report containing the following information:

1. the name, address and email address of the Federation;
2. the name and email address of the President (who, regardless of his title within the federation, shall be referred to as such within these Statutes and any other FIDE regulations);
3. the name and email address of the General Secretary;
4. the name and email address of the officer who is the intermediary between the member and FIDE (the Delegate);
5. the names of the national champions;
6. the title and address of the official bulletin, if any;
7. the numbers of players belonging directly or indirectly to the federation on January 1st of the year in question, or, if this is not possible, at the end of the previous fiscal year;

When a federation does not supply the data mentioned in sub (g), the Secretariat shall determine the number of members, after consultation with the President of the Zone. The same procedure shall be applied when the data given by the federation contains obvious mistakes.

2.5.

Members not fulfilling the duties mentioned in art. 2.4 may be temporarily excluded from FIDE by a decision of the General Assembly/Executive Board/Presidential Board and permanently excluded from FIDE by a decision of the General Assembly.
A member in arrears in the fulfilment of its financial obligations towards FIDE may be temporarily excluded by the Presidential Board, Executive Board or General Assembly. This temporary exclusion shall be annulled if the temporarily excluded member has fulfilled its financial obligations 60 days before the General Assembly following the temporary exclusion. No participation in any FIDE event or meeting will be permitted during the exclusion period. Payments made after the 60 days but before the General Assembly will not allow participation without a majority approval of the General Assembly.
The Treasurer shall include information in his report on those federations that should be temporary or permanently excluded.
A temporary exclusion made by the Presidential Board or Executive Board shall be submitted to the next General Assembly, which will decide on the permanent exclusion of the negligent federation. This must be an agenda item prior to any election.
In other matters a permanent exclusion can be ruled by the General Assembly only if the member is guilty of a severe offence against the statutes, regulations, resolutions or decisions, or acts against the principles of FIDE, taking into account the opinion of the Ethics Commission.  This must be an agenda item prior to any election.

2.6.

The members have the right to withdraw from FIDE. The Secretariat must be informed in writing of the withdrawal at the latest three months in advance. Payment of membership fees and all other contributions remains obligatory until the date of withdrawal becomes effective. Membership fees or other contributions will not be refunded if a member withdraws or is excluded.

2.7

A provisional member has all the rights and obligations of a full member except that a provisional member does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly nor are its representatives eligible to stand for FIDE offices. The rules for withdrawal or exclusion are the same as for full members. If a provisional member has not achieved full membership status within five years, then the provisional membership may be reconfirmed for five year periods by the General Assembly, failing which the provisional membership would automatically cease.

B -  Organisations and Individuals

2.8

Affiliated international chess organisations are:

1. organisations which represent the interests of regions or other groupings consisting of affiliated FIDE federations.
2. other chess related organisations

Affiliations of international chess organisations are decided by the General Assembly. They have a right to attend the Annual Congress as observers but with no voting rights.

2.9.

Individual members are:

1. Honorary members and Honorary Presidents of FIDE who are nominated as such because of their special contribution to world-wide chess.
2. Life members and Friends of FIDE are persons who have made a financial contribution to FIDE, as then decided by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly decides on individual members.  Individual members have a right to attend the Annual Congress as observers but with no voting rights.
Only former Presidents of FIDE can be nominated as Honorary Presidents. Only one Honorary President may serve on the Presidential Board at any time. When a new Honorary President is named by the General Assembly, the previous holder will retain the title but no longer serve on the Presidential Board.