� I. The Commission

1. The Permanent Commission for Chess Compositions (PCCC) operates by definition under a mandate from the FIDE (see Annex V, Section 1 - Status, Principles and Aims of FIDE).
To the Commission currently belong the chess federations/chess problem societies of those countries listed in Annex I, each of which has the right to nominate a delegate. These delegates together, as "ordinary Members" constitute the Commission. They are hereinafter referred to simply as "Members".
2. The Commission is entitled to appoint experts for certain fields as extraordinary Members with a simple majority. These experts are named in Annex II. It is their task to support the Commission in all matters connected with their respective fields. They have the voting right in all questions belonging to their fields of expertise additionally to the ordinary Members. They have to be invited to all meetings of the Commission.
3. The task of the Commission is to pay attention to all matters of international interest in problem chess and studies within the framework of the FIDE.
In particular, its duties include:
The dissemination and encouragement of chess composition throughout the world.
The formulation of rules and guide-lines in all spheres of chess composition.
The arrangement of official international composing and solving tourneys.
The initiation of the publication of collections of general interest, etc.
The award of titles to especially deserving representatives of chess composition including solvers, subject to the approval of the FIDE.
4. The Commission decides with a two-thirds majority on applications for admission submitted by chess federations. It may also decide, by the same majority, that a chess federation shall be expelled. The more detailed conditions of admission and expulsion are laid down in Annex IV.
5. The Commission has power by a simple resolution of the membership to appoint specially deserving retiring Members to honorary membership for life. Honorary Members enjoy all the rights of ordinary membership except for the right to vote and the rights to elect or be elected. Similarly, the Commission can accord the title of Honorary President to a President on the expiry of his term of office (Arnhem 1981).

� II. The Commission's meeting

1. Once every year the President calls an ordinary meeting which shall be organized each time by a member-country. If no member-country is prepared to undertake the organization, the President may postpone the meeting for one year. If in that following year no organizer can be found, the President shall organize it himself as he sees fit.
2. An ordinary meeting shall consist of several sessions and shall occupy at least (four) 4 and not more than (eight) 8 days of session.
3. In cases of emergency, the President in consultation with the Vice-Presidents may call an extraordinary meeting, even between two ordinary meetings, at any place that seems suitable to him. The President is also entitled to invite the Vice-Presidents to a Presidium meeting for good reason.
4. The President shall invite in writing to every meeting all the member-federations listed in Annex I. A personal invitation shall be sent to Honorary Presidents, Honorary Members and experts in accordance with Annex II.
5. Every member-federation shall be represented at the meetings by the delegate nominated by it in accordance with paragraph I.1. The delegate may send a deputy in his place to individual meetings who shall then assume the same rights and duties as the delegate Member himself. Delegates and deputies must be either nationals of or habitually resident in the nominating country. No one person may simultaneously represent more than one country.
6. The name of the deputy shall be notified to the President at least three weeks before the start of the meeting. If any member-federation is quite unable to send a delegate or a deputy, the President shall be informed without delay.
7. A quorum at any meeting shall consist of at least one-third (1/3) of the member-federations listed in Annex I, represented by the presence of Members. An alteration of the Statutes is nevertheless only permissible with the presence of Members from at least half (1/2) of the member-federations listed in Annex I.
8. The meetings shall, in principle, be held in public. However, at the request of a Member, the Commission may at any time decide by voting whether the public shall be excluded from individual sessions. At such closed sessions only Members, Honorary Presidents, Honorary Members and the Secretary of the Commission may be present.

� III. Officers of the Commission

I. The President is the head of the Commission. His task shall be to call meetings of the Commission, to draw up the Agenda, to take the chair at sessions, to record the minutes of the whole meeting, and to ensure that the decisions of the Commission are put into effect.
2. The President is also responsible for all contact between the Commission and the President and the General Secretariat of the FIDE. He represents the Commission in all external matters, and he is in particular the Commission's representative at General Assemblies of the FIDE.
3. In cases where the President is unable to discharge the duties defined in paragraph III.2. above, he may delegate these duties to a Member of the Commission.
4. The functions of the President given in paragraph III.1. above shall in principle be discharged by him personally. Only in the event of an impediment may he delegate them to a Vice-President.
5. To carry out his organisational duties, the President may avail himself of the help of his Secretary. The Secretary is entitled to take part in all sessions of the Commission.
6. To represent the President in the event of an impediment or at his special request, three (3) Vice-Presidents shall be elected. If a President should die or resign during his term of office, the 1st Vice-President shall take over all his functions until the expiry of the term of office.
In the event of the 1st Vice-President's being unavailable the President's functions shall devolve on the 2nd Vice-President, and subsequently in to the 3rd Vice-President, and then finally on to the Member most senior in service in the Commission.

� IV. Election of Officers

1. The Members of the Commission shall elect the President and Vice-Presidents from amongst their number by a secret ballot in writing. Such elections may only be held at ordinary meetings, provided there is a quorum present. Sessions at which elections take place shall never be open to the public.
2. The right to vote of each individual Member shall never be delegated, except as in paragraph II.5.
3. Whoever receives more than one half (1/2) of the votes cast shall be deemed to have been elected. If in the course of voting for more than two candidates no single candidate obtains an absolute majority of the votes cast, a final ballot shall be held between the two candidates receiving the most votes.
4. Re-election of the officers of the Commission shall take place in principle every four (4) years, corresponding to the election-cycle of the FIDE. However, if during the four years period one or more meetings do not take place for reasons specified in paragraph II.1. the four years period shall be lengthened accordingly.

� V. Agenda at meetings

1. An Agenda shall be drawn up for every ordinary meeting of the Commission, and shall be communicated to all Members at least six (6) weeks before the start of the meeting.
2. Each Agenda shall contain in particular the following items:
Verification of attendance and voting-rights.
Agreement of the minutes of the previous meeting.
Any elections which may fall due.
Proposals by member-countries.
Announcement of place for the next meeting.
Any other business.

� VI. Proposals by Member-Countries

1. Any proposals by member-countries to be dealt with on the Agenda in accordance with paragraph V.2d above must reach the President at least ten (10) weeks before the start of the meeting. Any proposals received later, together with proposals made by Members during a session of the Commission, may be dealt with only under Any other Business paragraph V2f as far as the remaining programme for the meeting permits.
2. However a Member has the right to propose that a matter seeming to him to be urgent shall be dealt with by the Commission out of turn. The Commission shall then immediately decide on this proposal by a straight majority vote.

� VII. Sessions

1. The sessions shall serve the discussion and consideration of the items of the Agenda, along with the passing of resolutions by the Commission. The chair shall be taken by the President himself or his representative appointed in accordance with paragraph III.4.
2. Every Member is entitled to signify his desire to speak at any time during the meeting. The Chairman shall accord this right in the order in which he receives the requests to speak. He also has the right to limit the time allowed to any speaker when several have requested to speak.
3. The Chairman is also entitled to interrupt a session for good reason.
4. As soon as the Commission has decided on the termination of a discussion, only one further speaker each for and against a motion may be allowed. Further requests to speak shall be refused by the Chairman as being too late.
5. All spoken contributions by Member at meetings shall be made in one of the official FIDE languages. At the request of a Member, the speeches shall as far as possible be translated by interpreters into other FIDE languages.

� VIII. Sub-Committees

1. The Commission shall either decide immediately on a proposal under discussion or, if the nature and scope of the matter demand it, shall appoint a sub-committee of two to five (2-5) persons to deal with the matter outside the sessions.
2. A sub-committee of this sort shall gather together for the Commission all important facts for the clarification of the matter in hand and the creation of a basis for a decision by the Commission. A sub-committee shall report on its work within the appointed time, and may also put forward its own proposal(s).
3. The President has the right, without any specific decision by the Commission, to work in all sub-committees of this sort.

� IX. Standing Sub-Committees

1. For fields of work that require lengthy preparation and activity above and beyond Commission meetings, the Commission is empowered to appoint standing sub-committees.
2. The task of a sub-committee of this sort is to go into the subject thoroughly and to present to the Commision concrete results and proposals for the Commission to decide on. Each subcommittee shall for this purpose choose a spokesman from among its members, and convey his or her name to the President.
3. After the fulfilment of its task or for other important reasons sub-committees appointed in accordance with paragraph VIII. or IX. may be wound up by a simple majority vote of the Commission.

� X. Award of titles

1. It is a fundamental task of the Commission, in conjunction with the FIDE, to award for life the titles of:
Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Compositions
International Master of the FIDE for Chess Compositions,
FIDE Master for Chess Compositions (Bournemouth 1989)
International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Compositions
International Solving Grandmaster of the FIDE
International Solving Master of the FIDE
FIDE Solving Master (Tel Aviv 1996)
Honorary Master of Problem Chess (Fontenay sous Bois 1986)
2. The Commission also decides by a two-thirds (2/3) majority on the conditions under which these titles may be awarded.
3. The Commission may also decide by a two-thirds (2/3) majority to introduce new titles and determine the necessary conditions.
4. A standing Qualifications Committee appointed in accordance with paragraph IX. 1., consisting of five (5) Commission Members has to decide with simple majority, whether a candidate fulfils the qualifications for one of the above mentioned titles. The committee needs a quorum of four (4) persons for a valid decision.
5. Concerning the more detailed qualifications for the acquisition of titles according to this paragraph, the Commission shall decide on a set of conditions, attached to these Statutes as Annex III.

� XI. Requirements for a majority

1. The Commission shall decide with a straight majority except in cases where the statutes expressly require a two-thirds (2/3) majority.
2. The majority shall be determined from the respective number of Members present at and taking part in the voting. In all cases where a two-thirds (2/3) majority is required abstention counts as a vote against.
3. The President's vote counts equal to that of the other Member.

� XII. Concluding clauses

1. These Statutes came into force for the first time at the meeting in Pula on 18.9.1972. In the present form incorporating some additions and alterations they were re-confirmed at the meeting in Budapest on 26.8.1988 and came into force in this new version on 27.8.1988.
2. These Statutes are published 1972 in their original form in the German language. The reconfirmed form was published in the English language and has in this form sole validity in cases of dispute.
3. Any alteration to these Statutes may only be carried out if approved by a two-thirds (2/3) majority.
4. Further additions and alterations:

� X 1c, Annex III 1c, 1f (Bournemouth 1989)

Annex I (Rotterdam 1991, Bonn 1992, Bratislava 1993, Belfort 1994, Turku 1995, Tel Aviv 1996, Pula 1997, St. Petersburg 1998)
Annex III. 1.d (Rotterdam 1991)
Annex II (Bonn 1992)
� II 5, XI 1 (Turku 1995)
� X 1g (Tel Aviv 1996)
Annex III. (Tel Aviv 1996)

ANNEX I

Re paragraph I. 1.
Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Hercegowina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Poland, Rumania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA, Yugoslavia (38 members).

ANNEX II

Presently no experts (paragraph I.2) are appointed. (Bonn 1992)

ANNEX III

Re paragraph X.5.
1. For the award of FIDE-titles, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
a) "Grandmaster of the FIDE for Chess Compositions"
A problem Composer must have at least 70 problems in the FIDE Albums. For a study composer the corresponding minimum number of studies required in Albums is 42. (Tbilisi 1975)
b) "International Master of the FIDE for Chess Compositions"
A problem composer must have at least 25 problems in the FIDE Albums. For a study composer the corresponding minimum number of studies required in Albums is 15. (Tbilisi 1975)
c) "FIDE Master for Chess Compositions"
A problem composer must have at least 12 problems in the FIDE Albums. For a study composer the corresponding minimum number of studies required in Albums is 8 (Bournemouth 1989).
In counting the points, for the mentioned master titles the value of a joint composition will be divided by the number of composers collaborating. If a composer competes with problems as well as studies then 1 study = 1 2/3 problems.
d) "International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Compositions"
Only national chess federations, national associations for chess compositions as well as the members of the Commission have the right to propose a member of their chess federation as a candidate for the title "International Judge".
The standing Qualifications Committee examines the proposal in the Commission. The candidate has to fulfil the following qualifications:

aa) First application for the title International Judge in one section: 6 awards among them at least 4 awards in the section applied for and among them two published abroad are needed.
bb) First application for the title International Judge in more than one section: 4 awards (among them two published abroad) in one section which must be signified as first section and 3 awards in each other section are needed. (This means that a candidate for 2 sections must present at least 7 awards and for 3 sections at least 10 awards).
cc) Application for extension of the previously granted titles to other sections: 3 awards in each of those sections.

The sections to apply for are:2#,3#,n#,s#,h#, fairies, endgames, retros and mathematics.
All applications must be in written form. They should be addressed to the Spokesman of the Qualifications Committee or to the President and must be signed by the Chess federation, the national association for chess compositions or the delegate of the applying country. (Rotterdam 1991).
e) "International Solving Grandmaster of the FIDE" The title can be gained only by participation in an official World Chess Solving Championship. In order to obtain the title, a solver must score at least 90% of the winner's points three times within ten successive WCSC's and on each of the same three occasions occupy one of the first ten places (Varna 1982).
f) "International Solving Master of the FIDE" The title can be gained only by participation in an official World Chess Solving Championship. In order to obtain the title a solver must either score at least 80% of the winner's points twice within five successive WCSC's and on each of the same two occasions occupy one of the first fifteen places or score 100% of the winner's points in a single WCSC (Varna 1982, Bournemouth 1989).
g) "FIDE Solving Master" The title can be gained by participation in an official WCSC or in any other Solving Competition officially approved by PCCC. In order to obtain the title a solver must twice score at least 75% of the winner's points and on each of the same two occasions qualify within the top 40% of the solvers (Tel Aviv 1996).
h) "Honorary Master of Problem Chess" This title can be granted to problemists aged more than 70 years, having great merits in problem chess, who did not succeed in getting one of the master titles mentioned above (Fontenay sous Bois 1986).
2. In all cases the President has to inform the General Secretariat of the FIDE in writing about title awards. At the same time he has to request the confirmation of these titles by the next General Assembly of the FIDE.

ANNEX IV

Basic requirements for the admission and expulsion of chess federations.
1. A chess federation applying for admission must be a member of the FIDE.
2. Visible activity in the composing and solving of chess problems or studies must exist in the country in question.
3. The application must be addressed in writing by the chess federation to the President of the Commission. It must be accompanied by the undertaking that the country in question will actively participate in the tasks and the pursuit of aims of the Commission.
4. The delegate nominated by the chess federation (Paragraph I.1. of the statutes) must orally present his federation's application at an ordinary meeting of the Commission (Paragraph II.1. of the statutes). Only then may a decision on the application be reached.
5. If a Member is entirely absent from three successive ordinary meetings of the Commission, the latter is entitled to decide, in ordinary session, to expel the chess federation which has nominated this member. The chess federation in question must first have the opportunity to make written representations on the matter. Provided that the due conditions are fulfilled, a resumption of representation at a later ordinary meeting is permissible.
6. When a federation is admitted or expelled, the list in Annex I must be amended by decision of the Commission.

ANNEX V

GENS UNA SUMUS The moral strength of FIDE is manifested by the discipline of its members.
STATUTES OF THE WORLD CHESS FEDERATION - FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DES ECHECS (FIDE)
Approved on June 25, 1974; Amended on November 6, 1976, November 7, 8 and 10, 1978, December 3 and 6, 1980, July 29, 1981, November 10 and 15, 1982, October 5-8, 1983, November 28 to December 1, 1986, 7-9 August 1989, 30 November to 3 December 1990, 21-23 June 1992, 22-24 November 1993.
CHAPTER 1 - Status, principles and aims of FIDE
1.1 The World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale des Echecs, referred to in the ensuing text as FIDE for short), is the international overall organization in the domain of chess, which was founded on July 20, 1924 in Paris. FIDE unites national chess federations and directs the chess world.
1.2 FIDE is concerned exclusively with chess activities. FIDE is democratically established and bases itself on the principles of equal rights of its members. It rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of sex.
1.3 Chess is one of the most ancient, intellectual and cultural games. It is a combination of a sport, of scientific thinking and of the elements of art.
The purpose and aim of FIDE are therefore the diffusion and development of chess among all nations of the world, as well as the raising of the level of chess culture and knowledge on a scientific, creative and cultural basis. FIDE supports a close international cooperation of the chess devotees in all fields of chess activity, thereby also aiming to improve friendly harmony among peoples.
1.4. FIDE issues the rules of chess and the provisions pertaining to the organisation of the World Championships and all other FIDE chess competitions. It awards the international chess titles.
1.5. To facilitate the administrative work in FIDE, zones are created, if possible according to regional points of view. Each member-federation is assigned to a zone.

Last update  02-I-04

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