65th IPC Plenary - Varshets, Bulgaria - Day 4 31st January

Bulgarian Dignitaries with Susanne Schoedel & Graeme Windsor

Links to previous days reports and the delegates pictures are at the foot of the page.

9.50 January 31st 2015

There is a real buzz in the room as all the delegates gather for the start of the formal Plenary.  

After Graeme welcomed everyone there was a minute's silence to remember those who had not made it through the year.  Graeme then explained that the Mayor of the town was going to make a welcome speech, but he had done that at the commencement of the week, on day 1.  He went on to explain that several dignitaries from Bulgaria would be present during the first coffee break.  It was a large agenda and Graeme reminded delegates that it was necessary to move through as quickly as possible as some delegates would be leaving early on Sunday. 

He then passed the podium to Markus Heggeney for the roll call to be taken, which he did and then he left to work out the various percentages for voting.

Graeme then introduced the Secretary General of the FAI, Susanne Schoedel.

Tomislav Dontchev, Vice Prime Minister of Bulgaria with Graeme Windsor, IPC President and Secretary General of FAI, Susanne Schoedel

Susanne talked about her and Markus’s work during the year as they both came to their positions in FAI early in 2014 and during the year they have tried to attend each Air Sports Commission’s Plenary which they had found interesting. She stated how impressed she was by all the work and commitment of volunteers in each Air Commission and looked for ways the FAI could help on issues that were common to all Air Sports.

She further commented that it was so nice to be able to talk to people on a face to face basis rather than by e-mails.   She went on to explain the structure in the Head Office and the work actually done there which is very complex. She also said that it was encouraging that 50% of the staff in Head Office were actively involved in Air Sports. Head Office was working on the synergy between sports, live coverage of our sports and she spoke about the various initiatives being taken to introduce live TV (on-line) where there are several companies interested.

Susanne also talked about the General Conference and the changes to the Executive Board and congratulated Gillian Rayner and Niels-Christian Levin Hansen to their election. She also talked about the new Financial Controller and the Finance working group and the intent to make the finance report from FAI more interesting and a better presented document.

Susanne Schoedel, Secretary General of FAI

Susanne finally spoke about an idea of an Air Sports Conference, where all the Air Sports Plenary meetings would be held at the same time as the FAI General Conference, probably over a slightly longer period (10 days). This was in the “idea” stage, but she and Markus were asking each Air Sport Commission what they thought. She asked for a show of hands from the floor in support of the idea, and those against, there were no hands raised against. She thanked the delegates for their support.

Graeme then returned to the podium and thanked Susanne for all the work she and Markus were doing. He then said that Annex No. 39 would be removed from the Agenda as it was published in error and this would be recorded in the minutes.

He went on to confirm the voting numbers: There were 36 votes in total; 27 from delegates present and 9 proxies – which gave us 19 votes for a simple majority and 23 for a 2/3rds majority.

The podium then passed to Patrice Giradin as the World Games Liaison Officer. Patrice started by saying that unfortunately he did not have much to report as he has not as yet received much information from either FAI or the IWGA and talking to the Polish delegate realised that he had not either. It is important to establish the number of slots being offered for parachuting – Canopy Piloting so that he could go back to the committee to agree the format of the competition and who would participate. He asked Markus to organise a meeting between all involved as soon as possible.

France's Delegate, Patrice Girardin

Markus answered that things had been slow in developing, but that it was now coming together and he would involve Patrice and representatives from the other involved air sports in any future meetings and communications.

Gillian Rayner - FAI Executive Board Member

Gillian Rayner then presented the latest on the World Air Games in her role as World Air Games Liaison Officer.  This was beginning to be finalised and extremely good meetings had been held during the last couple of days, between the FAI and the Organiser, Mohammed Yousif Al Hammadi, UAE. The number and list of competitors had been approved, in total 442 which as Susanne had pointed out in her presentation, formed over half the number of all the air sports competitors. They had also agreed the number of Judges (43) to include the Chief Judge and Assistant to the Chief Judge. Although the total number of competitors had been agreed they were still in negotiation to find an agreed number for the total delegation (medical supports staff etc.). She thanked Dubai for their support of what will be a tremendous World Air Games.

Graeme then spoke with thanks to Gillian and in fact to all those who give so much of their time and efforts working for their sport. He called for anyone who wished to volunteer to take over the role as World Air Games Liaison Officer – he had filled that role when Gillian had been unable to attend, and he was very happy to continue, but if anyone was interested please approach him during the coffee break.

At this point the power failed and the use of the microphone and overhead projector were not possible.

Graeme asked if Susan Dixon, IPC Webmaster and Media Liaison Officer felt she could make herself heard, seeing as there was no microphone available, and she came forward to make her presentation. She commenced by stating that she was not repeating her report which was in the Agenda Papers but would speak about the productive meeting she and her colleague Fay Kimble, had with the FAI. This was to learn what was available in the offer by the FAI to utilised space on their “virtual server” and she then outlined what could be done to make life better and easier for IPC.

IPC Webmaster and Media Liaison Officer, Susan Dixon

At this point there was a break for coffee and the restoration of power.

Gernot Rittenschober, the President of CISM Parachuting Committee referred to the written report (agenda Annex 7) and corrected the typing error of CISM Female Junior Style record which should read 8.06 instead of 8,04 seconds.

All nations with military teams were reminded on the preliminary entry date for 6th Military World Games 2-11 October 2015 in Republic of Korea is 15th of March. The entry form has to include the name of a valid CISM or FAI judge.

CISM is working closely with IPC judges Committee on a potential joint judges seminar S&A and FS in April/May 2015 planned in Korea, further details will be published soon.  Gernot announced the planned date for 40th CISM World Military Championship in Russia 17th-27th July 2016. This competition still needs to be confirmed and will be added to FAI calendar in due time.

Gernot Rittenshober - CISM Representative

Finally Gernot invited everyone who might have a question or other issue with CISM Parachuting to contact him any time.

11.00 31^st January 2015

The formal opening of the meeting took place with a range of dignitaries from Bulgaria. The first speaker was the Vice-Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Tomislav Dontehev, who for the purposes of protocol welcomed all the delegates in Bulgarian, then proceeded to make his own translation. He welcomed everyone to the meeting in Bulgaria and also spoke of how pleased they were to host the World Cup in Accuracy Landing and Freefall Style in 2015 at Edren, Montana. He was not a skydiver, but he loved a challenge and therefore he was making a public promise that he would make a jump. This was greeted with enthusiasm and support by the delegates present.

Graeme confirmed that this was not a Tandem Jump, but with a proper course.

He was followed by the Ministry of Youth of Sport, Krasen Kralev who was not to be outdone – welcomed everyone in Bulgarian, did his own translation and also undertook to make a jump.

Jordanka Blagoeva	Krasen Kralev

The third dignitary to welcome both the Plenary being held in Bulgaria and also the coming European Cup was Jordanka Blagoeva, the Vice-Chairman of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.

The dignitaries then left and the Plenary meeting continued.

Niels Christian Levin Hansen then issued a challenge to all NACs hosting future FCEs to see who could attract the most senior dignitary to make a jump – he would make it a policy to do this in Denmark and as they had an election during 2015 he was hopeful he would succeed. This could be an agenda item for 2016!

He then presented the work of the Safety and Training committee starting with the Safety Report based on the statistics sent in by NACs on the fatalities in their countries for 2013. The committee always works a year in arrears.

He called on all delegates to go back to their NACs to emphasise the need to submit their annual statistics and he would work on them to do so. He added that he would speak to those delegations that were not currently taking part. The results had been put into a CD disc and each delegation had been given a copy with the instruction to take it back to their respective NAC, to hand it over to the individual responsible for safety matters.

The report covered a total of 6,800,000 jumps by 1,300,000 jumpers with 57 fatalities. The statistics are broken down by classification of jumper (student, intermediary or experienced) also by the type of fatality and 37% of the fatalities were due to landing accidents. This continued the previous trend of canopy handling problems, an area which would benefit from increased education in canopy handling training. Human error accounted for 51% of the fatalities.

Niels-Christian then moved to the various Parachuting Licences issued around the world and introduced the proposal to put on the web site examples of National Licences with a translation.  The International Certificates of Proficiency continues. To bring his presentation to a close he then introduced his FAI Safety Policy which has been his project and he thinks it is an excellent document – but he asked for input from delegates and IPC. It is available on the web site.

Jan Anderson, Finland, commended the Working Group on their work, but said that Parachuting Aircraft Accidents have not been included in the statistics and asked the working group to consider this for the future and appealed to everyone to ensure that their aircraft are properly maintained.  

Graeme thanked Niels-Christian on his work on the Bureau and with the Safety and Training Committee and said he will be missed by IPC. We then came to the Financial Report presented by Doris Merz Huniker. She asked for the 2013 report to be accepted by the Plenary, this had been finalised and agreed and was in line with the FAI Financial Reporting system. There were no questions and so Graeme called for a vote. Accepted unanimously.

She then moved on to the Budget for 2015, however what was presented was provisional as there were still competitions to be decided on by this Plenary. Nonetheless, she had put into the budget those figures that were already fixed, although she had omitted the mid-year Plenary meeting at 6,000 € and IPC Representation of 4,000€ which gave a net loss for the year of 30,000€. However this is the usual procedure as the actual costs of Judges’ travel and the Juries are an unknown quantity.

Ronald Overdjik then raised the question he had at the open meeting, that consideration be made to reduce the sanction fee for Indoor competitions.  

Doris asked that the Bureau can approve the final budget for representation after the competitions for 2015 were agreed. Doris thanked her working group for all the support and help she has had during her first year, particularly from Buzz and the FAI Office staff of Susanne Schoedel and Cossete Mast.

The new proposed discipline of Wingsuit Flying presentation was given by James Hayhurst who opened the presentation by showing a web-site link to the Wingsuit competition taking place at this time in Australia. This site gives instant results, plus the ability to see the track of the jumper making this disciple both dynamic and exciting. He thanked Klaus for all his work over the past 10 years to arrive at this exciting point. He then presented the Competition Rules and also the suggestions of the changes to Section 5 and they would like to introduce 3 new competition records for each element of the competition and 2 performance records. These do attract media attention.

Jackie Harper then presented the changes they had made to their bid – they had now clarified the air space and landholders permissions. She confirmed that BPA membership was mandatory for non EU jumpers, the Drop Zone said that they will issue temporary memberships and absorb the cost. With regard to the Medical Conditions of the BPA, these state that if you meet your own National medical requirements to jump that is acceptable. Now that they knew the number of judges required for the competition, they were able to give a maximum entry fee which covers jumps and all meals including the banquet would be 485 and for Heads of Delegations and Accompanying persons 260. She hopes with the help of sponsors to be able to reduce these.

James announced that a competition would have a Chief Judge and 2 FAI Judges, the Proforce technical support and a Chief of Training Judges.

The vote was then taken on whether to adopt the new discipline of Wingsuit Flying. A question from the floor asked the Bureau to consider adopting new disciplines without evaluating the total number of disciplines and their currency.  Graeme undertook to discuss this at the mid-year Bureau meeting in line with the Strategic Plan.

A vote was taken 0 against, 4 abstentions and so the new Discipline became part of the IPC Disciplines.

The rules for the competition were then voted on and with 2 abstentions they were passed.

And finally there was a vote taken for the bid by the UK to host the 1^st World Cup in Wingsuit Flying, - Carried unanimously.

Markus then took another Roll Call as Qatar had been missed in the beginning:

There were 28 Delegates in the room, 9 proxies so a total of 37 Votes which means 19 are needed for an Absolute Majority and 25 for a 2/3rds majority.

The next agenda item was Indoor Skydiving and Gillian Rayner spoke of the proposed changes to Section 5.  She said that this week confirmed that Indoor Skydiving represented a huge change for the FAI and IPC to attract new people to the sport and the ability to present it to the public.

The Working Group proposed that the maximum age for a Junior be raised from 14 to below 17.  She would also like to propose a change in the normal FCE schedule (i.e World Championships on even years and World Cups/Continental Championships on odd years), this is driven by the opinion that currently the same teams are attracted to compete in the Outdoor and Indoor events, and having effectively two World Championships in the same year may be counterproductive.  The proposal was then made to have the 1st World Championships in Indoor Skydiving in 2015.  

There were no votes against or abstentions so the proposals were carried unanimously.  Gill then asked the Plenary to establish a permanent working group for Indoor Skydiving.  When asked from the floor why not a Committee, she stated that the rules for Indoor Skydiving were the responsibility of the respective Discipline Committees (Formation Skydiving and Artistic Events) and they should remain there.  She proposed that each committee be represented on the Working Group.

She then called on John Smyth to comment on the UK proposal, and John said that it had been discussed at length at the open meeting and he asked that a member of the UK could serve on the Working Group.  Gillian also stated that she had established the Terms of Reference for the new Working Group.  The Working Group was asked to consider the formation of a committee over the 1st year but the formation was voted unanimously by the Plenary delegates.

Gill then moved to the two bids on the table from the Czech Republic to host competitions in 2015 and 2016.  Gillian asked if they would be prepared to host the World Championships in 2015 instead of the planned World Cup.  The Czech representative immediately said yes, with no changes to their bid.  The bid was voted on for a 1st World Championships in Indoor Skydiving 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, this was accepted with only 3 abstentions.  

There was then considerable discussion regarding the second bid on the table to now host a World Cup and European Championships in Indoor Skydiving 2016.  Both committee chairs spoke to say they did not at this time support the bid as they would like to give the opportunity for other bids – but encouraged the Czech Republic to represent their bid fornnext year.

The bid for 2016 was defeated.  Gillian then stated that she had a letter of intent from France for a bid to be presented to host the World Championships in 2017 close to Paris and this would be passed to the Bureau for formal presentation next year.

Graeme thanked Gill for all her work and said that this project had been her baby and now as she moved on it seemed as if she were offering it up for adoption.

Kirk Verner, USA, then gave a report on the preparations being undertaken and the work already done by Skydive Chicago in preparation for the Mondial 2016.  There was an excellent team in place and everything was on track.

The next presentation was the Accuracy Landing and Freefall Style committee, and Gunter Berendt started by thanking his committee for their work during 2014.  He spoke about the two competitions held in 2014 and these are covered in the Annexes to the Agenda.  He did however make the point that the total number of competitors in the World Championships was 199 (accuracy) and 118 (style) and at 5th DIPC the total number was 214.  He commented that they may be an “old” discipline but they did not do too badly in terms of active competitors.

He then moved to clause 6.1.1. regarding the action of the judges in the centre of the target area and how they indicated to the event judge the landing of the competitor.  They had carefully reworded the clause and the committee felt it now truly reflected the work of the judges.   James Hayhurst explained the wording and thought behind it in a very clear and easy to understand manner.  Patrice Giradin asked for a further addition for clarification of responsibility.  It was proposed that the wording be accepted as proposed by the committee for the year 2015 and that it be revisited in 2016.  There were no votes against or abstentions and so the proposal was accepted.

Gunter went on to state that they had received an informal notification from Slovakia for a bid for 2017 and from Bulgaria for 2018.

The Norwegian Delegate, Trude Sviggen Chair of the Formation Skydiving Committee said that she had covered everything in the Open meeting and she would ask the plenary to approve the few rule changes proposed.

Henny Wiggers then clarified certain points raised during the open session regarding the bid for the Formation Skydiving, Artistic Events and Speed Skydiving World Cups in 2015.  The Judging Systems they have are two setups based on CamScore updated with the current rules and working to HD quality.  However they do require a third system.  They are in consultation with the UK for a third CamScore system but if that is not possible they will go out on the market to obtain  suitable systems, be they OmniSkore or Intime.   In addition he had spoken to the Insurance company about the insurance requirements to parachute in the Netherlands, and the Insurance company had agreed to offer either free cover, or basic insurance cover at cost (approximate 6-7 euros) for competitors during the competition.

The plenary voted on the acceptance of the rule changes unanimously, followed by a unanimous vote in favour of the World Cups to be hosted by the Netherlands.

Kirk Verner, USA, then made a short appeal to the delegates to encourage their competitors to try .Mixed Formation Skydiving, the USA had a dive pool, and a set of rules and would be happy to share and encourage other nations to try this discipline at a National Level.

Canopy Formations Committee presentation came next, as we charged through the agenda.

Rina Gallo presented on behalf of the chair, Lindy Rochow-Williams who was absent this year, her apologies having been presented at the start of the Plenary by Graeme. She went through the rule changes that had been presented at the open meeting and answered questions to clarify the changes to the omission rule, which is now in line with FS, although the loss of points is still only 2. There was also a long discussion from the floor on the proposals to clarify the rule about teams working after the end of working time. In the end it was decided that the suggesting wording be accepted. All the rule changes were accepted by the Plenary unanimously.

Rina then stated that the committee had received a Formal Letter of Intent from the Swedish NAC to host a Canopy Formation World Cup in 2017. A bid would be presented next year.

Following Canopy Formations it was time for the Artistics Committee report from Ronald Overdijk.

There were many changes proposed by the committee, including the decision to judge Indoor competitions live, however they would still use a camera for the compulsory moves and this would be an HD camera also for media.  There would be signals to indicate the end of working time and the judges would be expected to look away.  There three proposed  events, Solo Freestyle, Dynamic 2-way and Dynamic 4-way – the working time for Freestyle would increase from 45 seconds to 1 minute (60 seconds) and the competitor could use music with their performance presentation.  The requirement for toes to be pointed would be viewed as it was not possible in the tunnel in the feet straight down position.

He asked for acceptance of the new rules, and rule changes and these were accepted unanimously by the Plenary.

Ronald Overdijk then announced he was stepping down as committee chair after 21 years and the new chair would be Ron Miasnikov

We then moved to Paraski, presented by the deputy chair Henny Wiggers, due to the early departure of Michael Eggar.  He announced that Doris Metz had resigned from the committee.  He also spoke of the two competitions that had taken place so far this year, neither had been completed due to high winds, but they hoped the third in the series to be held this coming weekend in Slovenia would be OK.  The coming World Championships in Germany would have enough snow (it had been a concern) and Henny was able to show photographs.  

There was a bid from Austria to host the 2017 World Championships which was accepted by the Plenary with no votes against and no abstentions.

Henny then asked the plenary to approve the minor rule changes that were proposed and these were accepted unanimously.

He then asked for bids for the World Cup in 2016 as at the moment there was no competition on the Calendar.

The next Committee report was for Canopy Piloting, Dr Rainer ‘Exi’ Hoenle as chair presented his report which related to the retirement of several performance records.  It is complicated with changes to the names of events, increasing the options for the types of course utilised and to the composition of competitions.  One proposed rule change related to the wind speed for Accuracy and this will now be a max of 5 m/s.  If this occurs during competition those still  in the aircraft they will not be dropped.

There will be no performance records in the future, only competition records.  It was intended to introduce a team event but this would be limited to teams of 3, they had done some research and teams of 3 would give them 10 – 13 teams per competition whilst teams of 4 only 5 – 6.  This would add 9 medals to each event.

The weight chard had been tidied up with an agreed margin (to allow for a meal for example), and the weight belt must be positioned in such a way that it can be ejected from the front.

There was a World Cup in Canopy Piloting, which had been accepted last year, in Farnham, Canada in 2015 to which Richard ‘Buzz’ Bennett, Delegate – announced a few minor changes; there was now the possibility of single room occupancy, a late entry fee of 100 Can$ and they wished to add a European Championships.  These were put to  the vote en block and accepted unanimously by the Plenary.

Due to the internet problems experienced the previous day, Exi’s e-mail with the proposed rule changes, for delegates to read before voting, had not been circulated.  As a result it was agreed they would be re-circulated and voted on later in the meeting.

The committee then moved to future competitions, and asked Canada to withdraw their bid, which had been submitted and accepted at the 2014 Plenary.  If the bid was withdrawn it would allow other organisers to present their bids.  

The Canadian delegate spoke strongly against this proposal, and stated that there was a formal bid procedure clearly defined in the Internal Regulations and they had conformed to it.  He asked if a vote was taken on this proposal that there be a secret ballot.  He also went on to say that Canada was happy to accept the addition of the Team Event for both 2015 and 2016 – he understood this would mean 9 extra medals.  A secret ballot was held and the vote went 21 – 16 in Canada’s favour.

Exi also stated that Dubai had made a late bid submission to host a World Cup in 2017 and he asked the Plenary to vote for this to be placed on the Agenda for consideration by the Plenary.  It was decided to move this proposal to the later in the day for the Bureau and Canopy Piloting Committee to consider the bid.

We then moved on to the report from the new Committee for Speed Skydiving.  Elisabet Mikaelsson presented as Chair of the Committee and asked delegates to refer to her reports including in the Agenda papers. 

Elisabet Mikaelsson - Chair of Speed Skydiving Committee

She was very happy to announce that Speed Skydiving would be included in the Mondial 2016 in the USA and also that the Netherlands would  include it in their competition this year.

She asked for approval of the minor rule changes proposed and these were unanimously approved.

Graeme then announced that the bid from Dubai may be considered;  this required a 2/3rds majority but was voted for unanimously.

The delegation from Dubai then made a short presentation based on their wish to promote the sport.  The competition would not be held on the Palm DZ (site of the Mondial in 2012) but at the Desert DZ which is set up to host events, has much larger facilities and would utilise the same hotels and catering provider as was used during the Mondial.  They then showed a short video.

The Bureau had decided that a vote on the bid would be made at the end of the meeting, having confirmed that the bid application fee had been paid.

We then broke for Lunch giving delegates time to absorb a very busy morning’s work.

Immediately after lunch Pia Berggren presented the Judges report.  However before she could do so the Hotel Manager came to explain the problems that the town was suffering as a consequence of the very high winds overnight.  These winds had reached 150kph causing damage to property, uprooting trees and powerlines, resulting in the loss of the electrical supply to the town.  It had even meant that the IPC President, Graeme Windsor had to move rooms during the night when the patio doors to his room blew in. Fortunately the hotel had its own generator, although there were times when the internet service was under strain due to the power issues. Graeme thanked the Manager and his staff for their work and passed on his condolences to those who had suffered as a result of the storm.

Delegate for Sweden, Pia Berggren Chair of the Judges Committee

Pia returned to her presentation and asked if there were any questions from the Plenary relating to her report in the Agenda papers.  There were none.  She then referred to the proposed change to 4.6.1(5) that had been presented at the open meeting – the committee had taken on board the feelings of the delegates and decided not to propose any change, and the rule would remain as it currently is. 

It had been decided, after the 1st World Cup in Indoor Skydiving, that each discipline would have its own Chief Judge.  The committee also suggested a change to Section 5 where the number of judges needed for each discipline has a provisio added relating to Indoor skydiving that should the number of competitors be low then the number of judges could be reduced.  The deadline for a decision would be based on the provisional entry figure.  Judges would be selected on the proviso that they many not be required and to await confirmation from the Chief Judge.

There was quite a bit of input from the floor as to how this could be managed and it did not meet with overall approval. 

Pia then went on to speak about the Scoring systems chosen by organisers for a competition, and how important it was to allow sufficient time for proper approval to be reached.  The committee would work during the coming year to define those systems that are currently approved and what criteria should be used to establish approval.

There was a unanimous vote to accept the rule changes proposed by the Judges Committee.

Pia then reminded delegates that they must submit their lists of available judges for the new competitions approved at this Plenary by 20th February 2015.

She called for more training courses to be hosted during the year, these would be promoted on the IPC Website with place, dates and cost.  She then asked for Plenary approval of the proposed Chief Judges nominated for the 2015 competitions as follows:

All the proposed Chief Judges were approved unanimously by the Plenary.

Pia ended by saying the committee would continue to work on the On-Line Judging System and the standardised format for Judge Training over the coming year and hoped to have something more to present to the Plenary in 2016.

We then moved to the driest part of the Plenary and judging from the Open Meeting, the one most likely to cause considerable discussion and potential disagreement.
The work of the Rules and Regulations Working Group was then presented by their Chair, Richard “Buzz” Bennett.

This report was broken down into the various sets of Regulations covered by changes.  We started with Section 5 and the rule 1.1.4 that an FAI official may be identified in any way as to their home NAC, including clothing.  This had been discussed well in the open meeting and Buzz suggested the removal of this rule be put to a separate vote – it was accepted by a majority.

The second was with regard to the protest procedure and timing, and it was proposed, following the open meeting discussion, to make a simple alteration by removing the word “official” before ‘results’ and this was accepted unanimously by the plenary.

We then moved to the changes resulting from the revision of the General Section which moved whole sections back to individual Air Sports Commissions for the regulation to be included in their own documents (SC Section 5).

There was a section on rules relating to the cancellation of a competition:

• before the start date
• once the completion had started
• a team’s withdrawal from a competition before the start date
• a team's withdrawal during the competition.   

There was a lot of discussion on the removal of the word Force Majeure to Unavoidable circumstances as agreed by the Jury - led by Susanne Schoedel.  There was also extensive discussion on the refund relating to the cancellation of a competition before it starts.  The proposal was that everything should be refunded except the sanction fees.  This led to a huge discussion from the floor and the final agreement was that should a competition be cancelled prior to its start then anything paid by delegations to the organisers would be refunded in full.  No change to the current situation.  

A roll call was then requested as several delegates had already left to catch flights.

The new figures were:  26 delegates present, 9 proxy votes, ie. 35 votes in all – giving a simple majority of 18 and a 2/3rds majority of 24.

We then moved to the situation of a team withdrawing from a competition prior to its start, having had their entry accepted.  The proposal is that the delegation be penalised by the withholding of the sanction fee from any refund.  There was a humungous discussion, not helped by the length and lateness of the day.  In the end a vote was taken which resulted in For 16 – Against 12 and Abstentions 6.  As the Secretary General of the FAI defined this as 34 votes cast (i.e including the abstentions as a vote) 16 was not therefore a majority – this led to even further discussion regarding the definitions of majorities and how these are accounted for in the FAI Internal Regulations.

Graeme called a closure to the meeting as it was already passed the extended deadline of 18.00.  The Rules and Regulations committee report would continue in the morning.

Candidates then had time to prepare for the Closing Banquet planned by our hosts for 20.00 hrs.  There was to be music, dancing, a demonstration of traditional Bulgarian musc and dancing as well.

Traditional Bulgarian folk dancing and a local brass band playing traditional music.

Alternate Delegate for Germany, Gunter Berendt, with Lidia Anna Kosk from Poland.	Media Liaison Officer, Susan Dixon, discards her shoes and gets into serious dance mode	Alternate Delegate for Norway, Hans Christian Amlie, knows how to shake them hips!