The United Nations Inter-Agency Games
2009

General Rules (provisional)

1. The purpose of the United Nations Inter-Agency Games shall be to enable the staff members of the agencies and organizations of the United Nations family to know each other through sports meetings and thereby to improve mutual understanding and working relations.
   
   
2. The Games shall be held each year and shall include the following disciplines:
   • athletics (men and women)
   • badminton
   • basketball
   • bridge
   • chess
   • darts
   • football (men and women)
   • golf
   • pétanque
   • table tennis (men and women)
   • tennis
   • volleyball (men and women)

In addition, the host organization may choose to organize competitions in other disciplines. Normally disciplines should only be included if at least four of the participating organizations are represented.


3. Responsibility for the Games shall lie with a Control Commission composed of two representatives of each participating organization. The host organization shall convene the Control Commission at the beginning of the Games to elect a chairman from among the members present and to decide any business put before it by any participating organization. Each organization shall have the right to one vote. In the case of equally divided votes, the Chairman shall have the determining vote.
   
   
4. The Control Commission shall establish the General Rules of the Games and the Competition Rules of the disciplines. The adoption of the rules and of any modification to them shall require the approval of the simple majority of the organizations represented in the Control Commission. Any question regarding the interpretation of these General Rules or of any Competition Rules shall be decided by a simple majority of the organizations represented in the Control Commission. Amendments of the General Rules shall enter into force at the end of the games in which these amendments have been adopted.
   
   
5. The working languages for meetings and correspondence concerning the Games shall be English and French.
   
   
6. Any agency or organization of the United Nations system, or any group of such organizations, may present a team to participate in the Games, subject to the consent of the Control Commission. With respect to combined teams, the organization in charge of such a team, shall submit a complete list of the team members to the host organization by the deadline established by the latter.
   
   
7. The Games shall be organized on a four year cycle, with the current cycle beginning in 2008. They shall be hosted by the participating organizations based in the following principal duty stations and in the following order: Paris, Geneva, Rome, and Vienna. This order may be altered with the consent of the Control Commission.
   
   
8. The host organization, in consultation with the other participating organizations, shall decide the venue of the Games and the dates, preferably in April or May.
   
   
9. Each organization wishing to participate in the Games shall inform the host organization of the disciplines in which it wishes to take part two months before the Games are due to begin. This information must be accompanied by a deposit equal to 50 percent of the established amount payable by each participant, in the currency of the country in which the host organization is situated. The host organization may refuse to accept any registration after this date.
   
   
10. Four weeks at the latest before the opening date of the Games, the host organization shall draw lots for the allocation of a number to each participating organization. This number, which is to be used for the purpose of drawing up the schedule of encounters, shall be the same for all disciplines and remain unchanged for the duration of the Games.
    
    
11. The host organization shall ensure that the following items are provided:
    
    (a) playing fields and courts of regulation type;
    (b) first-aid facilities on location;
    (c) copies of the relevant international rules for each discipline, in English or in French, or in both languages;
    (d) cups (trophies) for the winning team in each discipline, as well as a medal for each member of the winning team;
    (e) free transport for all participants and supporters at the site of the Games, between the place of accommodation and the playing fields and, where necessary, between the station or airport of arrival and departure and the place of accommodation;
    (f) accommodation for the participants and supporters of all teams, arranged on the best financial terms possible, the payment of which shall be the responsibility of each organization;
    (g) an information centre and offices for the Control Commission;
    (h) organizers and judges responsible for each discipline;
    (i) a closing/prize awarding ceremony.
    
    
12. Each participating organization shall draw up a typewritten list of its players for each discipline. The lists shall be presented to the host organization upon arrival at the site of the Games.
    
    
13. Any employee of a participating organization who has served under contract for at least three months or who holds a contract of at least three months duration and, in either case, holds a contract effective at least one month before the Games open and during their entire duration, is eligible for selection as a member of a team. It is the responsibility of the participating organization to provide a certificate, rubber-stamped and certified by the chief of the appropriate personnel services indicating the total number of staff members eligible to participate. Retired staff members are also eligible to participate with the team of the organization which they last served.
    
    
14. No individual may participate in more than one discipline or team. However, the Control Commission may waive this rule in the event of illness or accident which would leave a team undermanned. In the case of separate competitions for men and for women, no woman may play in the competition for men, nor vice versa.
    
    
15. Anyone participating in a competition must hold an identity card with a photograph issued by a competent authority. This identity card must be checked by the organizer(s) responsible for the discipline before each encounter and, in case of dispute, to the jury provided for in the corresponding Competition Rules.
    
    
16. The final ranking of the teams shall be determined in accordance with the procedures laid down in the relevant Competition Rules.