FIDE's Ethics Commission 2018

After last week's post on FIDE's 'Anti-Cheating' / 'Fair Play' Commission 2018, I have one more topic to address before I close Spectating the 89th FIDE Congress (December 2018). The Ethics Commission is one of the most important commissions in FIDE and demands more effort than I can give it, but that's never stopped me in the past.

Last year's post, FIDE's Ethics Commission 2017 (January 2018), focused on three areas of concern: Cheating, Bulgaria, and the Kovalyov case. The cheating cases will continue for as long as chess is played in important competitions; the Bulgaria case is still pending; and the Kovalyov case never advanced further than the complaint stage. The decisions for all cases are recorded on the commission's web site, from which I took the following snapshot. The first three columns show the 'Case number', the 'Complainant', and the 'Respondent'. The last show the 'Outcome' and a link to a full report on the decision.

FIDE Ethics Commission : ethics.fide.com

The minutes of the 2018 General Assembly record the outcome of elections that were held after the main election for FIDE President.

4.3. Number of appointed Vice Presidents. • Mr. Dvorkovich informed the meeting that he wished to appoint 5 Vice Presidents. The meeting was then adjourned for the Continental elections during which time the nominees for elected Vice-Presidents, Constitutional Commission, Ethics Commission, and Verification Commission presented their nominations to the FIDE Secretariat.

The minutes also record the outcome of the election for the Ethics Commission.

4.8. Election of the Ethics Commission Chairman and members. • The Ethics Commission shall consist of five members with, if possible, a legal background. They shall be nominated by FIDE President, [by] a Continental President, or by a Federation. The General Assembly will first elect the Chairman and then elect the other four members. Any losing candidate for Chairman can become a candidate for membership. No two members should be from the same Federation.

Nominations for Ethics Commission Chairman: Mr. Francois Strydom (RSA) elected unopposed. • First round: [...] No one passed the first vote. • Second round: [...] So the elected members are: Mr. R. M. Dongre (IND), Ms. Ruth Haring (USA), Mr. Rajesh Joshi (NEP), Ms. Yolander Persaud (GUY).

As for the report of the Ethics Commission, it was delivered in two parts; see the 'Spectating' post to find links leading to supplementary material provided by FIDE. The reports of the Ethics Commission are written and structured better than most of the other documents issued by FIDE. I'm only going to give the structure here.

Annex 22 • FIDE Ethics Commission; Report to FIDE General Assembly; Batumi, October 2018

Reporting period; 'primarily its activities since the meeting of the Executive Board in Antalya in October 2017'
Membership
Meetings
Ethics@fide.com website
Review of the Code of Ethics and Procedural Rules
EC advisory opinion on FIDE’s proposed Live Moves broadcasting policy
Complaints of discrimination within federations
Concluded cases
Pending cases
List of bans imposed during term (2014 – 2018)
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
General assessment of EC’s work during term (2014 – 2018)
Note of gratitude

That first report is August 2018. The second report is from the 89th Congress.

Annex 66 • Supplementary report (minutes) • 'The present minutes deal with the activity and decisions of the EC at the Batumi Congress on 28 & 30 September 2018.'

Open meeting, 28 September 2018
Hearing in case 5/2018
Closed meeting, 30 September 2018

Case 5/2018 was given priority because it had an impact on the upcoming FIDE election. Several other cases opened in 2018 were also political in nature, but their impact goes beyond the scope of the present post.