Guidelines for the Duties and Accreditation of Jurors in FIP World and Specialised Exhibitions

Chapter IGeneral Instructions

Article 1 Introduction

1.1 These General instructions cover the administrative procedures for the implementation of the FIP program for Jurors, Team Leaders, Experts and Jury Secretary and for apprentices in the FIP World- and Specialised Exhibitions with FIP Patronage, in accordance with Section V of the GREX.

1.2 They do not apply to exhibitions for which only Recognition has been granted but the relevant provisions are recommended for use at such exhibitions.

1.3 The following Articles cover, inter alia, the following :

• Accredited jurors, general provisions
• Apprentice jurors, requirements
• Apprentice jurors, form of nomination
• Apprentice jurors, accreditation
• Accredited jurors, cross accreditation
• Accredited jurors, privileges, responsibilities and limitations
• Team leaders, responsibilities
• Team leaders, apprenticeship
• Jury Secretary, responsibilities
• Jury Secretary, apprenticeship
• Expert Group team leader, responsibilities
• Expert Group, members
• Jury Presidents, duties

Chapter IIAccredited Jurors

Article 2 Period of Service

2.1 Jurors shall remain on the accredited list for a period of ten years after which they may be required to be reassessed unless:

• they have served at least twice in the previous eight years

2.2 Reassessment shall be carried out by the Commission Chairman or his nominee and shall ensure that the juror is familiar with current GREX, GREV, SREV and Guidelines for the disciplines in which he is qualified.

2.3 Jurors who fail reassessment shall be required to attend a seminar in the discipline for which they are accredited and to be interviewed by the Commission President or his nominee and, if thought necessary, judge selected exhibits.

Article 3 Newly accredited jurors

A report by the Team Leader endorsed by the Jury President shall be submitted on the first occasion a newly accredited juror serves as a full member of a jury. This shall cover the competence and diligence of the juror.

Article 4 Retirement of jurors

4.1 A juror who has been delisted by his National Federation shall be automatically delisted. He may only be reinstated by serving as an Apprentice Juror on the nomination of his National Federation.

4.2 A juror who fails to take the actions required in 2.1 above within two years shall be delisted.

Article 5 Juror Emeritus

A new category is established for senior jurors who have served a minimum of 6 times who may apply to be placed on the Emeritus list. Such Juror Emeritus would not be considered for service as full jury members but may serve as Senior Consultants. This is considered to be an honor and shall not be granted automatically. The FIP Board may nominate jurors who have not served the minimum number of times for this distinction.

Article 6 Cross accreditation

Service in a different jury group to that in which he is accredited does not qualify a juror in that discipline. He shall be required to qualify as set out in Chapter IV below.

Article 7 Team Leaders

Service as an acting Team Leader does not qualify a jury member to become an approved Team leader. He shall be required to qualify as set out in Chapter VI below.

Article 8 Expert Group

8.1 Service as a member of the Expert Group does not qualify an accredited Jury member as a regular Expert Group member. He shall be required to qualify as set out in Chapter VIII below.

8.2 Approved persons who serve as a regular or additional member of a FIP Expert Group may not describe themselves as an Expert unless they are an accredited member of the AIEP or a recognized National Expertising body. In any case they may not describe themselves as ‘FIP Expert’.

Article 9 Jury Secretary

Service as Assistant Secretary at a FIP jury shall not qualify a FIP accredited juror as a future Jury Secretary unless he has been previously nominated as Jury Secretary Apprentice and passes the evaluation required under Article 24 or the FIP Board deems him to be suitable to act as Jury Secretary.

Article 10 Disciplinary Measures

10.1 A juror who breaks the confidentiality requirement shall be automatically delisted. This applies to any information on jury deliberations given while the jury is in session.

10.2 A juror who reveals the nature of discussions during jury sessions subsequent to the end of jury work may be delisted. Jurors who take part in the exhibitor seminars, which are recommended features of exhibitions, should take care not to reveal disagreements or other matters confidential to the working of the jury.

Article 11 Appeals against Disciplinary measures

Appeals against disciplinary measures enacted by the FIP Board can only be lodged by a National Federation on behalf of the alleged offender. Any appeal must be accompanied by mitigating information. The appeal will be heard by a panel drawn from the FIP Board and chaired by a former President or his nominee.

Chapter IIIApprentice Juror

Article 12 Requirements

To serve as an Apprentice at a FIP Exhibition an Apprentice Juror shall:

• a) Have been an exhibitor in a FIP exhibition (under the patronage of FIP) receiving at least a LARGE VERMEIL Medal in his specific selected FIP Competitive Class. The application for Jury apprenticeship must be applied within 5 years after the award of the said medal.
• b) It is recommended to have at least one other exhibit in a different class, achieving FIP Vermeil and above, within 3 years after having successfully completed the FIP Jury Apprenticeship.
• c) Have attended at least one required FIP juror qualifying seminar in the classes he/she intends to serve as apprentice jury.
• d) Have served as a juror in at least two national exhibitions or of equivalent standing in 2 separate calendar years.
• e) It is recommended to be able to write and speak fluently in English, with knowledge of English Philatelic terminology.
• f) Have an understanding of all of the FIP recognized branches of philately.
• g) Be fully conversant with the FIP GREX, GREV, SREVs and Guidelines and be prepared to implement them.

Article 13 Nominations

13.1 The FIP Board will ask for nomination of apprentice jurors from FIP Members two years in advance. This will be updated annually but nominations received after 1st of January in a calendar year will not be considered until the following year.

13.2 No more than one apprentice nominated by a FIP Member may serve in a World Exhibition. The host FIP Member is entitled to nominate a second apprentice when the maximum number of apprentices per jury has not been reached.

13.3 FIP Members are entitled to nominate an individual apprentice for more than one exhibition or more than one apprentice to serve at an individual exhibition to give the FIP Board greater flexibility in allocating nominations. If more than one apprentice is nominated for a particular exhibition they should be qualified in different disciplines.

13.4 All nomination must come with the following documents (application form under “Application”):

• a) A copy of the official publications (Bulletin, catalogue and/or palmares) of the two exhibitions where he has qualified and/or has acted as a national jury member or equivalent. This copy must be certified by the Member Federation.
• b) The form prepared by the FIP so as to propose the candidates must be correctly completed in all its points, signed by the candidate and the President or Secretary of the Member Federation.
• c) The Organising Committee, with the advice and consent of the FIP Consultant may select Apprentice Jurors only from the nominations made by FIP Members. The selection must be approved by the FIP Board before the apprentice is invited to serve.
• d) A maximum of one Jury Apprentice may be attached to each judging team but normally only one apprentice will be attached to each class.

Article 14 Accreditation

14.1 Apprentices can only be accredited initially in the class in which they have obtained their qualifying medal, except Youth and Literature Class. A juror initially accredited in Youth or Literature who wishes to qualify in another philatelic class must first apprentice and seek the qualification only in that class in which the original qualifying medal has been received.

14.2 During the jury activities, the performance of the apprentice juror will be closely observed by the team leader and the apprentice will be required to justify his point and medal level conclusions.

14.3 The apprentice will be required to independently evaluate at least three exhibits not yet judged by himself and the results will be compared with those of the team. The apprentice will be subjected to an oral examination as to his general knowledge of the FIP GREX, GREV, SREVs and Guidelines.

14.4 An Apprentice Evaluation Report will be prepared by the team leader, submitted to the FIP Board Member responsible for jury matters and reviewed by the FIP Board.

14.5 An Apprentice can only apply for and be approved for one philatelic Class.

14.6 The apprentice must ultimately be approved by the FIP Board for acceptance as an accredited FIP juror. The National Federation and the apprentice will be notified of the Board’s decision.

14.7 A positive assessment as apprentice is a prerequisite for his inclusion in the list of the accredited FIP Jurors (GREX, Art. 30.1).

Chapter IVCross Accreditation

Article 15 Requirements

Any FIP juror, already fully accredited in one or more of the FIP judging classes, and who has served as a regular FIP juror at least once in the most recent accreditation, may qualify in another specified FIP judging class, under the following conditions:

15.1 The applicant must attend, or have attended, a FIP approved judging Seminar for the desired class before applying for accreditation in that additional class.

15.2 The applicant must have formed an exhibit in that class in a FIP Exhibition (other than for the youth or literature classes), and have received at least a Vermeil Medal Award in the last 10 years from the date of the application.

15.3 Applicants for accreditation in either the youth or literature class need not compete as youth philatelists nor in any literature competitions. Instead, applicants in those two disciplines must submit specific documentation of any qualifications or experience they may have for judging such exhibits at the FIP level, together with a statement explaining why they wish to be so accredited.

15.4 The applicant’s National Federation must submit a formal request for additional accreditation to the FIP Secretary General (application form under “Application”). Such request must specify at which FIP accredited exhibition the applicant seeks to qualify for additional accreditation, and supply documentation to establish the applicant’s eligibility. Such formal request must reach the Secretary General not less than four months prior to the opening day of the specified exhibition.

15.5 The FIP Board Member responsible for jury matters, will review the request and evaluate the applicant’s qualifications. The applicant will be notified of the results of the evaluation and decision, in writing, through the applicant’s National Federation.

15.6 If the request is approved, the FIP Consultant for the designated exhibition, in accordance with the Board of the FIP, will choose the team to assess the applicant.

Article 16 Accreditation

16.1 At the specified exhibition the applicant must report to the designated Team Leader, at the beginning of the jury work. The Team Leader will assign to the applicant not less than three nor more than five exhibits to be judged independently.

16.2 The applicant will submit the results of the independent judging, including point breakdown and medal level, to the Team Leader and will also be submitted to an examination of his/her knowledge of the SREVs and Guidelines for the designated class.

16.3 The Team Leader will submit the results of the independent judging and examination of applicant’s knowledge to the FIP Board Member responsible for jury matters, who will submit the results to the FIP Board at its next meeting for approval/denial of accreditation of the applicant in the designated additional class. If approved, the accreditation in the additional class will be added to the official FIP jury list.

16.4 To cross accredit an applicant must participate as a Juror during the entire Exhibition. This can be accomplished by being present on the Jury without voting rights or other financial and social privileges given to voting Jury Members.

Article 17 Cross accreditation in Youth or Literature

The following regulations should be applied to applicants desiring additional accreditation in youth or literature classifications: Applicants for accreditation in either the youth or literature classification need not have competed as a youth philatelist nor in any literature competitions.

Chapter VPrivileges, Responsibilities and Limitations

Article 18 Responsibilities

18.1 As set forth in Art. 36 of the FIP Exhibition Regulations (GREX), all jury members, including apprentices, are required to respect the confidential nature of jury deliberations and decisions. The judging results must be kept secret until they are announced by the Exhibition Management.

18.2 The Apprentice Jurors have no voting rights. However, they will be expected to participate in team and group deliberations just as regular jury members.

Article 19 Privileges

As set forth in Art. 34 of the GREX, the Exhibition Management shall provide each jury member and, also, the apprentice jurors with the following at no charge:

• Up to two admission tickets for the entire period of the exhibition, one of them for a family member
• Prior to the beginning of jury work, at least two exhibition catalogues
• Two copies of the Palmares
• Up to two invitations to the Palmarès Banquet and to all official exhibition events, one of them for a family member.

Article 20 Limitations

20.1 As set forth in Art. 35.1 of the GREX the apprentice jurors are not entitled to reimbursement or payment of travelling expenses, a sum for daily expenses or their hotel expenses.

20.2 Unless they are regular members of the jury, jurors seeking cross accreditation shall have no rights or privileges under these regulations.

20.3 An Accredited Juror can not be accredited in more than four categories. In order to accredit to another category he must have participated at least once as Juror in the last class in which he has accredited. In particular cases the FIP Board may approve additional categories.

Chapter VITeam Leaders

Article 21 Responsibilities

Team leaders shall be responsible for, inter alia:

• ensuring that all members of the team participate fully in judging
• meeting the deadlines set by the Jury President and Secretary
• training and evaluation of apprentice jurors attached to the team
• assessment of the capabilities of first time jurors
• ensuring that the results of judging by the team are correctly entered in the awards program
• participating, if invited, in the appraisal of exhibits in the Championship Class for nomination for the Grand Award
• presentation of candidates for Grand Awards
• security of jury materials issued to team members

Article 22 Team leader apprentice

22.1 The Board of the FIP together with the Consultant will choose among the Accredited Jurors those who may be in considered suitable to act as Team Leaders according to a list prepared by the FIP Board.

22.2 In order to be selected as a possible Team Leader, the accredited Juror must have acted at least in three opportunities as a full Juror in the category in which he is accredited.

22.3 In the specified exhibition the applicant should present himself to the Team Leader, who will examine him and give him the different activities he should carry out.

22.4 The Team Leader shall submit the results of the evaluations to the member of the FIP Board in charge of the juror activities, who will also submit the results to the FIP Board so as to approve or not in the next meeting the accreditation of the selected person to act as Team Leader in the future. In case he is approved, his name will be added to the official list of accredited Team Leaders of the FIP that is annually updated.

22.5 The Team Leaders Apprentice will have the same rights, obligations and limitations that have been specified in the Chapter V of these Regulations.

22.6 To serve as a Team Leader Apprentice the applicant must be acting as a full Juror during the designated FIP Exhibition.

22.7 Any Juror who is already certified as a Team Leader in a Class and wishes to be designated as a Team Leader in another Class for which he is already certified as a Juror must have served as a jury in that new Class at least once and send in a request to the FIP Board for consideration.

Chapter VIIJury Secretary

Article 23 Responsibilities

The Jury Secretary shall be responsible for :

• checking that exhibits are properly qualified for the frames and classes for which they have entered
• ensuring that the equipment necessary for jury work has been provided and that the secretarial staff are aware of their duties.
• producing a timetable for jury activity
• organising the jury groups in collaboration with the FIP Consultant and Jury President
• arranging for entry of results into the awards file
• liaising with the Expert Group to ensure that their report is available when required by the Jury
• liaising with Commissioners as necessary
• managing the plenary sessions of the jury under the Chairmanship of the President of the Jury
• checking that the results have been correctly entered into the Palmarès
• announcing the minor awards at the Awards ceremony and managing, with the Organising Committee the presentation of the awards.
• checking that all necessary paperwork and program files have been transferred to the FIP Secretariat at the end of the exhibition.

Article 24 Secretary juror apprentice

24.1 The FIP Board together with the Consultant will choose among the accredited jurors persons that they consider to have the skills for being Secretary in the future, to participate in an Exhibition.

24.2 In order to be selected as a possible Secretary of the Jury, the Accredited Juror must:

• Have acted in at least in three opportunities as a Juror in the category in which he is accredited.
• Have participated in courses or seminars that have been organized by the FIP
• Know more than one of the official languages of the FIP, and be proficient in English
• Know very well all the Regulations of the FIP.

24.3 In the corresponding Exhibition the designated individual will act as Jury Secretary Assistant (Apprentice) under the direction of the President and the Secretary of the Jury who will explain and give him specific responsibilities.

24.4 The Honorary President of the Jury together with the Secretary will evaluate the designated individual. This evaluation will be sent to the member of the FIP Board in charge of jury activities for approval and also will be presented in the next meeting of the FIP Board. If approved the name will be included as Jury Secretary in the annual list of FIP Jurors.

24.5 The Jury Secretary Assistants or Apprentices will have the same rights, obligations and limitations as other Jurors.

Chapter VIIIExpert Group

Article 25 Nomination of Team Leader

The FIP Consultant will be responsible for nominating the Expert Group Team Leader.

Article 26 Responsibilities of Team Leader

The Expert Group team leader shall be responsible for :

• ensuring that the equipment proposed for the expert group work is appropriate. Should there be any concern that this is inadequate he shall advise the FIP Consultant who shall make any necessary ruling.
• managing the activities of the Expert Croup including collaborating with the National Commissioners and the Organising Committee during the opening of frames for further examination of exhibits
• collaborating with the Secretary of the Jury in handling the reports submitted by Jury Groups
• reporting on the activities of the Expert Group and submitting recommendation for decision by the jury (including recommendations from jury teams)
• appraising the other members of the Expert Group
• examining any expert group apprentices which are part of the expert team
• submitting a final report on the activities of the Expert Group to the President of the Commission.

Article 27 Expert Group Member

27.1 The FIP Board together with the Consultant will choose among the Accredited Jurors those who may be suitable to serve on an Expert Group as a regular member.

27.2 The Expert Group Members will have same rights and obligations specified in Chapter V of these Guidelines.

Chapter IXPresident of the Jury

Article 28 President

• a) The President of the jury shall preside over all plenary sessions of the jury. He chairs the Presidium.
• b) The President shall have a casting vote in the vote for Grand Awards.
• c) The President of the Jury shall read the Report of the Jury at the Awards Ceremony.

Article 29 Honorary President

• a) The Honorary President of the jury shall be the President of FIP or his designated alternative.
• b) The Honorary President shall be responsible for ruling on interpretation of the GREX, GREV or SREVs as may be necessary.
• c) In cases of dispute he shall have the final decision which shall be binding over the jury.
• d) The Honorary President shall evaluate potential Jury Secretaries.

Chapter XFinal Provisions

Article 30 Formalities

30.1 In the event of any discrepancies in the text arising from translation, the English text shall prevail.

30.2 These Guidelines as soon as they are adopted will replace any other regulations that have been previously promulgated.

30.3 For those cases where there is no ruling provided by these Guidelines, the FIP Board will take a decision.

30.4 Exceptions to the provisions of the present Guidelines may only be made by the FIP Board.

30.5 These Guidelines for the duties and accreditation of Jurors in FIP World and Specialised Exhibitions were approved by the FIP Board at their 52d meeting on August 28/29, 1999, in Beijing, reviewed at the 84th meeting on October 25, 2009, in Rome, at the 89th meeting on October 11, 2010, in Lisbon, and at the 112th meeting on August 8, 2017, in Bandung and then at the 174th Board meeting in Tartu, Estonia on 29 July 2024. To be reported at the 77th FIP Congress on 3 December 2024 in Shanghai.