# Proposal for the Creation of the WCA Regulations Committee [Final Version for Submission to the WCA Board] ## Summary - The WCA Regulations Committee (WRC) should have three to five members. - The WRC is responsible for maintaining the following: - The WCA Constitution - A constitution defining the mission of the WCA, as well as the roles of the various agents of the WCA (the Board, WRC, delegates, etc.) - The WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines - concise, normative rules for competitions, with detailed suggestion and clarifications for interpreting the Regulations on the side; - The WCA Scramblers - a set of scrambling programs for official puzzles. - The WCA Incidents Log - a historical list of regulation-related incidents. - The WRC should take input from the cubing community in submitting amendments to the WCA. The WCA Board may approve updates to the Regulations and/or Guidelines at any time, although the Regulations should have one major update every year. - Notable new policy: Delegate Reports must be sent to the WRC in addition to the board. (See 1c1) and 1c2) of the 2010 Regulations.) ## Full Wording Article 1 - Name 1a) Name 1a1) The Committee shall be formally known as “World Cube Association Regulations Committee,” (WRC) herein referred to as “the Committee.” 1a2) The Committee is authorized by the World Cube Association Board, herein referred to as “the Board,” and will serve at the pleasure of the Board. Article 2 – Purpose 2a) Purpose 2a1) The Purpose of the Committee shall be: 2a1a) Advising the Board and the World Cube Association (WCA), herein referred to as “the Association;” 2a1b) Publishing and maintaining the WCA Constitution, the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines, the WCA Incident Log, and the WCA Scramblers; 2a1c) Maintaining and developing the quality, reputation, honor, and spirit of the Association in accordance with the WCA mission statement and WCA Constitution. Article 3 – Membership 3a) Membership 3a1) The Committee should consist of no fewer than three (3) and no more than five (5) members. 3b) Qualities for Membership 3b1) To be considered for membership in the Committee, candidates should: 3b1a) Commit to taking initiative in developing and upholding the Purpose of the Committee; 3b1b) Have a full understanding of current and past regulations; 3b1c) Be an active and long-standing members of the cubing community; 3b1d) Have extensive competition participation and organization experience; 3b1e) Have a sufficiently strong command of English to maintain the Regulations and communicate clearly with members of the Committee, the Board, and the general WCA community. 3c) Membership Process 3c1) The Board has exclusive ability to appoint and remove members. Any changes in membership must be publicly announced. 3c2) Candidates should be announced publicly before being appointed to the WRC, with enough time to allow for public feedback. 3d) Resignation 3d1) Any member of the Committee may resign at any time. The resignation is effective when received by the Board and the Committee. 3e) Termination 3e1) The Board has the power to relieve a Committee member of their position at any time, given proper justification of their non-compliance, denial, or violation of the Association’s purpose and standards. Termination of a Committee member shall only be decided by a unanimous vote of all the members of the Board. Article 4 – Duties 4a) Amendments 4a1) An amendment is a documented set of changes to the Constitution, Competition Regulations and Guidelines, and/or Scramblers. Amendments must be simultaneously presented to the public and submitted to the Board. 4a2) Amendments may be submitted by the Committee to the Board at any time, though it is recommended that amendments to the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines be submitted with the yearly update. 4a3) If there are independent changes to be proposed, multiple amendments may be submitted at once. 4a4) Each amendment shall be supported by an explanation with any links and citations of community discussion that demonstrate community consensus for the change. Any controversial changes shall be clearly justified. 4a5) Any change to any content of the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines, or WCA Scramblers requires an amendment to be submitted by the Committee and approved by the Board. 4a6) The Committee shall have sole power to submit amendments to the WCA Constitution, WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines, and WCA Scramblers. 4a7) The Board shall have sole power to accept and reject all submitted amendments “as is”. If the Board has concerns regarding a portion of an amendment, it may recommend changes to the Committee for re-submission. 4a8) The WCA Board should make its decision in a reasonable amount of time, and provide sufficient justification for all decisions. Any upcoming competitions that may be affected by the amendment should be taken into account when taking time to make a decision. 4b) Maintaining the WCA Constitution 4b1) The WCA Constitution 4b1a) The WCA Constitution shall contain all regulations pertaining to the organization and defined powers of the Association and its agents. 4b2) The Committee shall: 4b2a) Keep the WCA Constitution up to date, and available to the public; 4b2b) Archive all previous versions of the Constitution, along with a log of any and all proposed amendments (accepted and rejected); 4b2c) Submit proposed WCA Constitution amendments to the Board. 4c) Maintaining the WCA Incidents Log 4c1) The WCA Incidents Log 4c1a) An incident is a notable occurrence related the regulations. This includes exceptions granted to any competition/competitor, rules that were accidentally broken at a competition, or notable rulings/unusual situations that may be useful for handling future incidents. 4c1b) Incidents shall be investigated by the Independent Advisory Committee (IAC), by the Committee, or by the Board itself. 4c1c) The Board and the Committee shall be informed of all incidents. 4c1d) Incidents may be submitted (e.g. via email or the official Forum) to the Board for investigation by anyone. 4c1e) Any incidents in the log may be accompanied by an official announcement about the incident by the Board or the Committee, along with descriptions of the incident, its circumstances, and its resolution. 4c2) The Committee shall: 4c2a) Have full responsibility and power to add or edit an entry to the Incidents Log; 4c2b) Have full responsibility and power to limit the extent of the information published and available to the public in the log (e.g. names or sensitive details of minors); 4c2c) Ensure that the WCA Incidents Log contains all significant WCA incidents; 4c2d) Keep the WCA Incidents Log up to date; 4c2e) Have ultimate responsibility to bring incidents to the attention of affected cubers and communities. 4d) Maintaining the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines 4d1) The WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines 4d1a) The WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines shall contain all regulations and guidelines for running WCA-sponsored competitions. 4d1b) The Regulations shall: 4d1b1) Contain all clear, concise, normative rules about competitions. 4d1c) The Guidelines shall: 4d1c1) Contain non-normative information about the regulations that the WCA Board, delegates, organizers, judges, competitors, and community members may need in order to make informed, consistent decisions about the regulations; 4d1c2) Contain supplementary material, including (but not limited to): interpretations, clarifications, recommendations, citations, or explanations; 4d1c3) Not contain any information that contradicts the Regulations. 4d2) The Committee shall: 4d2a) Keep the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines up to date and easily accessible to the public; 4d2b) Submit proposed WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines amendments to the Board (Guideline amendments should detail precedents resulting from incidents, with relevant citations to the WCA Incidents Log); 4d2c) Submit a yearly amendment to the WCA Board for the next calendar year. The yearly amendment must be submitted by December 31 of each calendar year; 4d2d) Ensure the Guidelines contain clarifications and recommendations to the Regulations. Each Regulation should link to relevant Guidelines and vice versa. 4e) Maintaining the WCA Scramblers 4e1) An official scrambler is a scramble program that: 4e1a) Generates random-state scrambles for all puzzles for which this is practical; 4e1b) Generates scrambles of a sufficient degree of randomness to ensure competition equity; 4e1c) Uses a sufficiently robust source of randomness; 4e1d) Makes a reasonable effort to prevent unwarranted or unauthorized access to generated scrambles; 4e1e) Is relatively user-friendly and time efficient; 4e1f) Produces scrambles that are easy to archive and publish in a digital format (e.g. plain text version copies of the scrambles, or PDF files of scramble printouts); 4e1g) Should able to run offline; 4e1h) Should be a single, unified program that has the ability to generate scrambles for all official events (as opposed to individual scramblers for individual events). 4e2) The Board shall have the responsibility and power to approve or veto proposed scramblers. Decisions should be accompanied by a justification submitted to the WRC no later than one (1) week from the date of the decision. 4e3) The Committee shall: 4e3a) Be responsible for maintaining a set of official scramblers; 4e3b) Ensure that at least one official scrambler is available for every official event (more may be necessary, if the scramblers do not have redundant use cases); 4e3c) Make official versions of the scramblers available for use and/or download. 4f) Communication 4f1) The Committee should: 4f1a) Carry out its duties in an open process that involves feedback from the community; 4f1b) Inform the Board of any incidents or exceptions to the Regulations and/or Guidelines within fourteen (14) days of the incident or exception in question; 4f1c) Be notified by the Board of any incidents or exceptions to the WCA Competition Regulations and Guidelines within fourteen (14) days of the incident or exception in question (for example, if the Board grants an exception to the Regulations, the WRC must be informed); 4f1d) Make an effort to communicate with WCA Delegates of all regions to stay in communication with the community; 4f1e) Draft amendments according to community consensus; 4f1f) Maintain an online WCA Regulations Forum (currently at http://www.worldcubeassociation.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 as of December 2011) as the official place where any regulation issues are discussed. All posts in the official WCA Regulations subforum must be given consideration by the WRC; 4f1g) Maintain an email address, through which members of the community can communicate directly with the Committee in an efficient, private manner. This email should forward to all Committee members. 4f2) WCA Delegates shall: 4f2a) Submit all Delegate Reports to both the Committee and the Board. Article 5 – Dissolution 5a) Dissolution 5a1) Dissolution of the Committee shall only be decided by a unanimous vote of all the members of the Board. 5a2) Members of the Committee shall be notified about the dissolution and be given justification for such action no more than one (1) week following the decision. ## Revisions: 0.2: There are only 2-3 WRC members now; everyone else is an advisor. This clarifies roles and responsibilities for the WRC, and it is consistent with the number of WCA Board “members”. 0.3: Small changes and conversion to text format. 0.4: Addition of provisions for scramblers. 0.5: Advisors removed, because the status is not really necessary for providing feedback. 0.6: A lot. 0.7: Added Constitution, merged Competition Regulations and Guidelines.