| 4.1. |
The General Assembly, being the highest authority of FIDE, exercises the legislative and - unless otherwise defined below - also the executive power. It supervises the activities of the Executive Board, the Presidential Board, the FIDE President and also the other FIDE officials and organs. It approves the FIDE budget, elects the Presidential Board, Ethics Commission, Verification Commission and Constitutional Commission and determines the schedule of FIDE activities.
Unless otherwise provided by the Statutes or Regulations (e.g. in the case of the Ethics Commission and the Electoral Commission), the General Assembly will be the internal appellate organ for all decisions of FIDE organs and officials.
When the General Assembly is not in session its powers are transferred to the Executive Board. However, the Executive Board cannot take decisions on the following:
- election of officials
- final admittance and permanent exclusion of member federations
- changes in Statutes,
- changes to regulations of Rules and Tournaments Commission
- changes to regulations of Qualification Commission,
- changes in the Electoral Regulations
All decisions taken by the Executive Board may be reviewed by the following General Assembly. A directly aggrieved party may appeal directly to CAS against a decision by the Executive Board if, and only if, that party would suffer irreparable harm by having to wait until the next General Assembly for a final decision. |
| 4.2. |
The General Assembly is composed of:
- the representatives of the member-federations and their counsellors,
- the members of the Executive Board,
- the representative of the affiliated international chess organizations,
- the Honorary Members, Honorary Presidents, Life Members and Friends of FIDE,
- the chairmen of the permanent commissions
- the current World Champion and the current Women`s World Champion
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| 4.3. |
A member federation shall be represented at the General Assembly by its delegate (who may surrender his voting power to the President of the federation in accordance with the Electoral Regulations) or the holder of the irrevocable proxy of the federation that has been validly and timely granted in accordance with Electoral Regulations.
The following priority shall apply: (1) holder of a valid and timely proxy; (2) the delegate.
A proxy can be assigned and re-assigned only to the delegate of another federation.
Each delegateis permitted to represent, besides their own, only one additional federation.
A delegatemay be aided by one counsellor or the President of the federation. The name of the counsellor must be advised to the FIDE Secretariat by 17.00 h on the day before the opening session of the General Assembly by the delegate of the federation.
Only delegates, Presidents of federations or members of the Presidential Board have the right to speak in the General Assembly. |
| 4.4. |
Each member-federation represented in the General Assembly has one vote. The other participants in the General Assembly have a consultative voice only.
Motions of order (closing of the discussion, adjournment of the agenda point, removing the point from the agenda, etc.) may be made at any time on a point under discussion by the delegate of any member federation. The Chairman of the meeting must have these motions considered and decided upon at once by the General Assembly in so far as they do not entail an interruption of the session.
The same applies to objections because of violation of the statutes. Proposals regarding amendments or supplementary proposals will be treated only if they are seconded by another voting member. |
| 4.5. |
In meetings of the General Assembly or Extraordinary General Assembly, the quorum shall be 50% of the voting members. This shall be established by a roll call at the beginning of the meeting and no further roll calls are needed to establish a quorum unless requested.
If the quorum is not fulfilled at the beginning of the General Assembly, the Executive Board will decide which items of the agenda can be submitted for decision by the truncated General Assembly. The items put on the agenda shall not include changes of statutes, financial regulations or election of officials of FIDE. |
| 4.6. |
The sessions of the General Assembly are public, unless it is decided otherwise by simple majority vote. |
| 4.7. |
A proposal or a decision which raises no objection is accepted unanimously as a decision of the General Assembly. General applause is also regarded as acceptance of a decision. If there is an objection, duly seconded, then a decision is made by a show of hands. If the requisite majority has clearly been reached, the proposal or decision has passed. The representative of any member federation may bring a motion questioning whether the requisite majority has been reached.
Votes on elections for the Presidential ticket and the elected Vice Presidents shall be made by secret ballot. The elections for the elected Commissions shall be made by open vote, unless otherwise decided by a two thirds majority. When there are no more candidates than positions to be filled, the candidates shall be deemed elected. There must always be an election for the Presidential ticket.
A secret ballot is held for the award for hosting the Olympiad. A request for a roll call ballot can be made for any award of a World Championship event.
Each recommendation by the Executive Board is voted upon first, after discussion, in the General Assembly. In other cases amendments are voted upon first. Supplementary proposals are voted upon only after a decision on the main proposal; they will be discussed and voted upon in the reverse order in which they were made. The voting procedures of the General Assembly will be explained at the outset of the meeting. |
| 4.8. |
Decisions shall be made with the majority of the votes delivered, without taking into account abstentions. For the exceptions hereto see Art. 4.15 & Art. 15.1.
For elections, special election regulations are operative. See Article A.04 |
| 4.9. |
In the event of a tie in voting, the FIDE President decides (with the exception of elections). |
| 4.10. |
Prior to voting all relevant communications from absent members shall be brought to the attention of those present. |
| 4.11. |
Proposals of members or FIDE officials or organisations, or affiliated international organisations admitted under Art. 2.8, which are to be included in the agenda for the General Assembly, should reach the Secretariat not later than three months before the beginning of the General Assembly, together with the reasons for the proposals.
Proposals submitted within this time limit must be included in the agenda for the General Assembly.
Commission’s draft reports to be discussed by the General Assembly shall also reach the Secretariat at least three months before the meeting is due. They will be considered as final following examination at the Commission’s meeting during the session of the Annual Congress and submitted to the General Assembly/Executive Board for approval. Proposals tabled at the Annual Congress without due notice shall be subject to appraisal at the first Presidential Board meeting following the Congress. The Presidential Board shall not have the power to rescind the decision, only to delay implementation until the proposal is further studied at the next Congress. |
| 4.12. |
The regular General Assembly is held every Olympiad year. It is convened by the President. The invitations shall be sent out at the latest four months prior to the opening date of the General Assembly. Invitations can be sent by email. The Secretariat shall send the participants the complete agenda and the relevant documents at the latest six weeks prior to the opening of the General Assembly (or be published on the official website of FIDE).
No other item may be discussed except in an emergency situation where evidence must be established and with the approval by a two thirds majority vote of those present, including proxies. All decisions by the General Assembly shall be given an alpha-numeric designation.
The decisions of the General Assembly will be published on the FIDE web site within two weeks of the close of the meeting.
The final minutes shall be published no later than eight weeks after the meeting is closed. The Secretariat shall publish any amendments to the FIDE Statutes and regulations on the FIDE website within three weeks of the close of the General Assembly meeting at which they were adopted. A separate document showing the amendments in track changes shall be included. |
| 4.13. |
Place and date of the General Assembly are determined:
- by the preceding General Assembly, or
- in the absence of such a decision, by the FIDE President.
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| 4.14 |
An Extraordinary General Assembly shall be convened by the FIDE President upon request of one-third of the member-federations within two months of such a request. In urgent cases the President, with the consent of the Executive Board or Presidential Board, also has the right to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly. The agenda for the Extraordinary General Assembly shall be sent to participants at least one month before the meeting is held. |
| 4.15 |
Statutes can be changed only by the General Assembly and only upon proposal by the FIDE President, the Executive Board, Presidential Board or any member-federation. Two thirds of the votes delivered without taking into account abstentions are required to effect such changes. |
| 4.16 |
Decisions made by the General Assembly concerning the statutes, the standing orders or the electoral regulations will come into effect on the last day of the General Assembly, after the General Assembly is closed. |
| 4.17 |
For those matters not previously mentioned, the electoral procedures are defined in the Electoral Regulations in Article A.04. The Electoral regulations are approved by the General Assembly by simple majority. The Electoral Commission is regulated in the Statutes in Chapter 8. |
