ACF Status
1. AIMS
1.1 The Asian Chess Federation (ACF) is an independent association which intends to safeguard the interests of chess in Asia. The ACF is established under FIDE for chess development in the Asian Continent. It will establish and coordinate the activity of its members and organize continental championships under the auspices of FIDE. The ACF will represent the interests of the members of ACF at FIDE and other international organizations.
2. MEMBERS
2.1 Any National Chess Federation on the Asian continent as defined in FIDE Statute Art 2.1 or any other National Chess Federation belonging to an Asian FIDE Zone, are considered to be members of ACF.
2.2 Any Asian association related to chess can be accepted as an associate ACF member without the right to vote.
3. INSTITUTIONS AND OFFICIALS
3.1 ACF’s institutions and officials are:
A – The Continental Assembly
B – The ACF Executive Board
C – The ACF Presidential Board
D – The President
E – The Deputy President
F– The General Secretary
G – The Treasurer
H – The Zone Presidents
Not more than two members per federation shall hold individual positions in B to H above. The ACF President may call a referendum for interim elections in case of incapacity of an elected official.
4. THE CONTINENTAL ASSEMBLY
4.1 The Continental Assembly (CA) is the highest authority of the ACF.
4.2 The CA is composed of all member federations.
4.3 Associate members do not have the right to vote.
4.4 A permanent delegate or proxy represents every member federation.
4.5 A representative may have a proxy from only one additional federation beside their own.
4.6 Each member federation has one vote.
4.7 The CA meeting is permitted to pass resolutions if it has been convened according to the statutes. A quorum of 50% of the affiliated federations (including proxies) is required for votes on elections. If the quorum is not fulfilled no actions can be taken.The ACF Executive Board shall be convened, composed of:
a)the ACF Presidential Board
b)Elected Office Bearers of the FIDE Presidential Board from Asian Federations
c)Elected FIDE Executive Board Asian representatives.
d)Zone Presidents
4.8 Votes are made orally unless a secret ballot is agreed to by the majority.
4.9 Votes on elections are cast by secret ballot.
4.10 Resolutions are passed by a majority of the votes, without counting the abstentions.
4.11 A majority of the votes cast, not counting abstentions, shall be required for the election of the officers, individually and collectively where necessary. If three or more persons are nominated for the same office and no one person receives the absolute majority on the first ballot then:
a) The candidate receiving the fewest votes on the first ballot shall be eliminated from the list before the second vote.
b) If there are still three or more candidates for the offices or office and no one candidate receives the required absolute majority on the second ballot, the process of eliminating one candidate at a time shall continue, until an election by absolute majority is achieved.
4.12 The annual meeting is convened by the President with at least two months notice.
4.13 The agenda must be sent to member federations by email, fax or regular mail at least one month prior to the meeting.
4.14 Proposals from member federations to be included in the agenda for the CA should reach the ACF Secretariat not later than six weeks before the beginning of the CA.
4.15 The President upon request of one third of the member federations or majority of the Board convenes an extraordinary CA. The CA shall convene within one month of such a request. The agenda shall be sent out within two weeks of the request.
4.16 The annual CA meeting has the following duties that cannot be delegated to another body.
a) Election of the ACF Presidential ticket – every 4 years
b) Elections of the FIDE Executive Board representatives- every 4 years
c) President’s report, budget and the financial report
d) Vote on financial regulations
e) Change of the statutes
f) Vote on the new associate members
g) Other duties defined as non-transferable by the CA or the statutes
5. THE ACF PRESIDENTIAL BOARD
Members of the ACF Presidential Board shall belong to different federations, with the exception of the President and General Secretary.
5.1 The ACF Presidential Board shall be comprised of the following:
a) President
b) Deputy President
c) General Secretary
d) Treasurer
e) Six other Presidential Board members
5.2 Where possible, the Board shall meet annually during Continental Championships and endorse the decisions of the President in between Continental Assemblies. The Board meets whenever the President finds it necessary or when at least half the Board members call for a meeting. Meetings of the Board are closed and by invitation.
5.3 Decisions of the Board require a majority of votes with at least half the Board members taking part in the meeting. In case of tie the President has a second and casting vote to establish a majority.
6. THE PRESIDENT
6.1 The ACF President shall be elected every 4 years. He shall also be the representative of the ACF as the FIDE Continental President for Asia (then confirmed by the FIDE General Assembly).
6.2 The President shall be responsible for the coordination and organization of all continental championships.
6.3 He shall also be Chairperson in all Continental Assemblies. He shall be ex-officio in all Zonal Meetings.
6.4 The President, the Deputy President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer are elected on a combined ticket. The ACF Presidential Candidate shall name his ticket to reach the ACF Secretariat at least three months before the opening of the General Assembly.
7. THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT
7.1 The Deputy President will carry out the duties and responsibilities as assigned by the President.
7.2 Represent the ACF in lieu of the President and Chair meetings in lieu of the President.
8. THE ZONAL PRESIDENTS
8.1 When electing a Zonal President, the CA – apart from exceptional cases – shall agree in principle with the opinion expressed in the CA by the majority of the representatives of the members belonging to the zone, or, if the zone consists of one member only, take into consideration the opinion expressed by the representative of this member. He shall be responsible for the Zonal Championships and coordination of chess activities in his Zone.
8.2 The Asian Continent shall be divided as the following zones for the purposes of allocations of places for the World Championships and other administrative matters.
| Zone 3.1 | Zone 3.2 | Zone 3.3 | Zone 3.4 | Zone 3.5 | Zone 3.6 | Zone 3.7 |
| 11 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Bahrain | Bangladesh | Brunei | Afghanistan | China | Australia | India |
| Iran | Bhutan | Cambodia | Kazakhstan | Fiji | ||
| Iraq | Maldives | Hong Kong | Kyrgyzstan | New Zealand | ||
| Jordan | Nepal | Indonesia | Tajikistan | Palau | ||
| Kuwait | Pakistan | Japan | Turkmenistan | Papua NewGuinea | ||
| Lebanon | Sri Lanka | Korea | Uzbekistan | Solomon Islands | ||
| Palestine | Laos | |||||
| Qatar | Macau | |||||
| Syria | Malaysia | |||||
| UAE | Mongolia | |||||
| Yemen | Myanmar | |||||
| Philippines | ||||||
| Singapore | ||||||
| Thailand |
9. THE ELECTED FIDE EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS
9.1 The Continental Assembly shall elect four (4) FIDE Executive Board representatives every four years. Where possible the Executive Board Representatives should represent the cultural and economic diversity of the entire continent. Nominations by the federation of the candidate should reach the Asian Chess Federation secretariat Assembly by email, fax and registered mail at least three months before the Continental Assembly.
10. THE TREASURER
10.1 The Treasurer shall be responsible for the finances of the continent in coordination with FIDE regulations and allocations.
10.2 The Treasurer shall be responsible for invoicing and collection of moneys from member federations for the services of the previous twelve months that shall include the annual membership fees.
10.3 The Treasurer shall also be responsible for preparing an annual budget based on FIDE allocations to the Continent and all revenues.
10.4 Entry fees and other allocations from FIDE must be deposited in the ACF Accounts and maintained by the Treasurer. Further, he shall report to the President quarterly on the financial activity of ACF.
10.5 Annual reports of the Treasurer shall be audited by an accredited accounting firm.
11. THE SECRETARY GENERAL
11.1 The Secretary General shall be responsible for the administrative affairs of the continent in coordination with FIDE regulations. He shall also be responsible for preparing an annual calendar and advising Federations on FIDE regulations to the Continent.
11.2 He shall be responsible for the preparations of minutes and the agenda for Board and Continental Meeting.
12. THE ASIAN EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS
12.1 Six other Board Members shall be appointed by the ACF President in consultation with member federations in different Asian zones for the same period as the Executive Board.
13. FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
13.1 The financial year shall coincide with the calendar year. (1st January to 31st December)
13.2 The ACF budget and accounting will be based on the US Dollar
13.3 All ACF bank accounts shall be in the name of the Asian Chess Federation.
13.4 The President, the Secretary General and the Treasurer shall have the signature rights. The signature of the President is compulsory for any transaction
13.5 Each year at the annual CA meeting the Treasurer shall present the final balanced account duly audited for approval by the CA.
13.6 The ACF’s revenues are generated through membership fees, entry fees from Continental Tournaments organized by member federations, allocations from FIDE and other sources.
a) The annual membership fee from each member federation will be US $ 100.
b) Annually in January the Secretariat shall bill all the affiliated federations for the services of the previous twelve months and shall include the annual membership fees. Any Federation failing to settle all outstanding amounts by the following 15 March shall be charged a ten percent (10%) per annum interest fee on the total outstanding. If any member is two years in arrears, their membership will be temporarily suspended.
c) All affiliated countries taking part in FIDE events held under the purview of ACF shall pay the entry fees of their players prior to the start of the tournament directly to the organizers. Failure will result in a penalty of 10% charged on the entry fees.
d) Organizing country of FIDE events will be exempted from entry fees for their own players.
e) For all the continental events the organizing federation will pay 50% of the entry fees to ACU and the balance 50% will be retained by the organizing federation.
13.7 The annual budget of (ACF) shall be done by the treasurer before the annual CA and is subject to acceptance by the CA.
13.8 For extraordinary expenses, not contained in the budget, a request can be submitted to the Board. The Board may grant such expenses if they are in the interest of the ACF.
13.9 Members of the ACF who are excluded by FIDE due to non-payment of membership fees are also excluded from ACF meetings.
13.10 The officials working for the ACF have the right to have reasonable expenses reimbursed. The Board shall formulate guidelines. Reimbursement of expenses going beyond these guidelines have to be contained in a CA approved budget.
14. MISCELLANEOUS REGULATIONS
14.1 The CA decides on the locations of a permanent office (ACF Secretariat) at the motion of the Board. Normally this is the seat of the ACF President.
14.2 The official language of the CA is English. In documents containing versions in more than one language, the English version is the official one.
14.3 Communications within the ACF shall be by letter, fax or email.
14.4 The CA may change the ACF statutes. For changing the statutes a two-thirds majority of the votes cast is necessary.