Chapter 02 - FIDE members, their rights and their duties

2.1.	Members of FIDE are national chess federations which have principal authority over chess activities in their own countries and which have been admitted to FIDE as member-federations, if they acknowledge the FIDE Statutes and develop activities not contrary to those statutes. Only one federation of each country can be affiliated to FIDE. In addition FIDE can grant the status of provisional member to chess federations, in accord with Art. 2.8. However, applicants granted full or provisional membership must have fulfilled any of the following conditions: They must have been previously recognised as a full or provisional member of FIDE. The Federation must belong to a country or a territory that is a member of the International Olympic Committee. The Federation must belong to a country or a territory with a membership or an observer status in the United Nations (GA'97)
2.2.	The admission of a national chess federation as a member is effected through an application. This application is to be submitted to the President. The provisional admittance is decided upon by the Executive Board/Presidential Board. Final admittance as a member is pronounced by the General Assembly after examination of the preconditions for admittance by the Executive Board. The application for admission must include all data, which will make evident that the statutory purpose and the previous activities of the applicant are in conformity with the FIDE Statutes. The application for admission shall be accompanied by the official questionnaire of FIDE approved by the General Assembly, completely filled out, together with a copy of the statutes of the federation, approved or recognised by the authorities of the country, if the country's law so requires.
2.3.	The members have a seat and vote in the General Assembly; they are entitled to make use of the right to vote; they are authorized to submit proposals to FIDE; they are entitled to participate in all FIDE events, according to the regulations; they are also authorized to scrutinize, through the Verification Commission, the financial management of FIDE.
2.4.	The members must acknowledge and observe the statutes, regulations, resolutions and decisions of FIDE. They are also obliged to pay the membership fees and the other FIDE-contributions fixed by the General Assembly at the designated time. Moreover they are obliged to support FIDE actively in its chess activities. Each member is required to send to the Secretariat at the latest by April lst of each year a report containing the following information: the name and address of the Federation; the name and address of the President; the name and address of the Secretary; the name and address of the officer who is the intermediary between the member and FIDE (the Permanent Delegate); the names of the national champions; the title and address of the official bulletin, if any; the numbers of players belonging directly or indirectly to the federation on January 1st of the year in question, or, if this is not possible, at the end of the previous fiscal year; the date and place and other details about international chess events which have been organised in the federation's country since the previous report or which are planned for the future. If in the course of the year changes occur in the data mentioned in sub (a-d) and (f) above, the federation must inform the Secretariat immediately. When a federation does not supply the data mentioned in sub (g), the President shall determine the number of members, after consultation with the President of the Zone. the same procedure shall be when the data given by the federation contain obvious mistakes.
2.5.	Members not fulfilling the duties mentioned in art. 2.4, may be temporarily or definitely excluded from FIDE. A member in arrears in the fulfilment of its financial obligations towards FIDE may be temporarily excluded by the President. This temporary exclusion shall be annulled if the temporarily excluded member has fulfilled its financial obligations 90 days before the General Assembly following the temporary exclusion. No participation in any FIDE event or meeting will be permitted during the exclusion period. Payments made after the 90 days but before the General Assembly will not allow participation without a majority approval of the general Assembly. The matter shall be submitted to the next General Assembly, which will decide on the definite exclusion of the negligent federation. If this is not the case, the matter shall be submitted to the next General Assembly, which will decide on the definite exclusion of the negligent federation. In other matters a definite exclusion can be ruled by the General Assembly only in case the member becomes guilty of a severe offence against the statutes, regulations, resolutions or decisions, or acts against the principles of FIDE. In the case mentioned in the 4th paragraph the Presidential Board can set up a committee of three persons to investigate and examine an offence (or an act against the principles of FIDE); the committee shall report to the General Assembly or the Executive Board in non Olympiad years.
2.6.	The members have the right to withdraw from FIDE. The President must be informed in writing of the withdrawal at the latest three months in advance. Payment of membership fees and all other contributions remains obligatory until the date of withdrawal becomes effective.
2.7.	In connection with the exclusion or withdrawal of a member, neither membership fees nor other contributions will be refunded.
2.8.	A provisional member has all the rights and obligations of a full member except that a provisional member does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly nor are its representatives eligible to stand for FIDE offices. The rules for withdrawal or exclusion are the same as for full members. If a provisional member has not achieved full membership status within five years, then the provisional membership may be reconfirmed for five year periods by the General Assembly, failing which the provisional membership would automatically cease.
2.9.	Associate Membership (GA '93) Associate Membership status may be granted to a nation or territory which does not have membership or observer status in the United Nations, according to the procedure in Statute 2.2. Should the territory of the applicant for Associate Membership be a part of a FIDE member, the application should be accompanied by the consent of the FIDE member. Associate Members have no voting rights in FIDE Congresses. To qualify, the applicant for Associate Membership and the parent federation should not have common borders, should be from different continents and should be under a process of separation agreed upon by both sides with a view to full independence of the applicant for Associate Membership. Associate Members may participate in Olympiads and other team and individual competitions. Tournament entry fees should be paid by the Associate Member. Other FIDE fees shall be agreed upon between the parent federation and the Associate Member.
2.10.	Affiliated international chess organizations are organizations whose legal relations to FIDE have been established by contract. organizations which represent the interests of regions, e.g. continents, or other groupings consisting of FIDE affiliated chess federations. The affiliation of international chess organisation under (b) is to be confirmed by the General Assembly.
2.11.	Individual membership: Honorary members and Honorary Presidents of FIDE are persons who are nominated as such because of their special merits for world-wide chess. Life members and Friends of FIDE are persons who have made a financial contribution to FIDE, as then fixed by the General Assembly. Special merits can be acquired by the repeated organisation of important international chess events, by the organisational work in the service of FIDE of many year's duration or by other extraordinary successful activities for the international chess movement. Only former Presidents of FIDE can be nominated as Honorary Presidents. Only one Honorary President may serve on the Presidential Board at any time. When a new Honorary President is named by the General Assembly, the previous holder will retain the title, but no longer serve on the Presidential Board provided that the current holder of the title of Honorary President is excluded from the application of this rule as he shall continue to serve as Honorary President and retain his right to vote and reimbursement of expenses relating to his function as a member of the Presidentila Board (GA '98)