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General Rules

1. The purpose of the United Nations Inter-Agency Games (IAG) shall be to enable current and retired members of the agencies and organizations of the United Nations system and other eligible organizations to get to know each other through sports and other recreational activities and thereby to improve mutual understanding and work relations. The departments of Human Resources (HR) and the various staff bodies accept that staff participating in social and sporting activities contribute to the well-being of themselves as well as to both the organization and staff relations. Sports and other recreational activities develop team building and drive motivation, attributes which are conducive to forming future leaders who will be better able to fulfil the urgent jobs in times of stress.
2. The IAG shall be held yearly, preferably between 15 April and 15 May. The host organization, in consultation with the other participating organizations, shall decide on the venue and dates of the IAG. The host organization shall choose the disciplines, bearing in mind the number of teams participating from each organization, in each of the disciplines. Disciplines should only be included if at least four teams are available. No location for the IAG shall be considered if the UNSSS has designated the country, or any area within that country, a security risk.
3. Responsibility for the IAG during the tournament shall ultimately lie with the CC, which shall be preferably composed of one non-competing representative of each participating organization. Each competing organization may also nominate an alternate CC member who may also be a competitor. The CC should hold its first meeting before the opening of the IAG. It shall address any business put forward to it by the organizations' representatives, the participating captains or the Secretariat. They may also pass on to the Secretariat any specific issue or group of issues to be worked on for them to report back to the CC before the next IAG. Each participating organization shall have the right to one vote. In the case of a tie the chairperson shall have the deciding vote. In such a case the chairperson's organization/agency shall have two votes.
4. The CC shall approve, amend or reject any proposals put forward to it regarding the General or the Competition Rules or any modifications thereof. Any change or amendment to any rule or rules shall only enter into force at the beginning of the next IAG or immediately if the rule change(s) is approved before any games have commenced in that particular discipline. The adoption of any rule change or amendment shall require a simple majority of those CC members present at the time of the vote. The working language of the CC's meetings and correspondence shall be English and/or French. The composition of any working group or committee including the Secretariat, which should meet outside the actual IAG, should all come from the same duty station. This is to ensure that they can meet on a regular basis and at the same time shall not incur any avoidable expenses.
5. As one of the purposes of the IAG is to promote sporting competition between the staff of the organizations and agencies of the United Nations system, it would be desirable that each organization or agency provides a complete team from among their own staff members. However, in cases where this is not feasible, combined teams are permitted. The naming of such teams shall follow the principles of the "naming convention". The creation of mixed teams, however, should not lead to the deliberate creation of a strong team.
   1. All disciplines should play all other teams in their specific discipline. Only when the local infrastructure does not allow it or, because of the number of participating teams and the limited time available, this would be impossible then, and only then, should the discipline be formed into groups. It is the responsibility of the discipline coordinators to decide on the best approach depending on the given circumstances.
6. Participating organizations/agencies must normally be listed on the United Nations System document www.unsystem.org. If not listed therein, the Secretariat will make its recommendation to the CC concerning eligibility of participation.
7. The Games shall be organized on a six-year cycle. They shall be hosted by an organization or combination of organizations from the following six duty stations and in the following order: Paris, Geneva, New York, Rome, Nairobi and Vienna. The IAG Secretariat shall solicit the commitment of the host organization(s) two years in advance. Should any of the six duty stations fail to commit, the IAG Secretariat shall call for competitive bidding from all participating organizations in order to have sufficient time to properly organize the Games.
8. The IAG official logo shall be used in all IAG matters, be it website, letterhead, publications, or other. The Organizing Committee may, if it so wishes, design its own logo to identify the year of the Games, and use it in addition to the official logo.
9. The host organization, in consultation with the Secretariat, will send out invitations to participate in the IAG to all eligible organizations and agencies at the latest four months prior to their commencement. The invitation shall include the location, date, list of disciplines and the various costs of participation with all the requisite deadlines for registration and payment. The host organization may stipulate the number of teams an organization may send per discipline taking into consideration factors such as availability of acceptable accommodation, sporting facilities available and costs. It will also ensure that any organization/agency with any outstanding bills is not invited to participate in any future Games until all bills have been settled. The CC maintains the right to reject the participation of individuals in accordance with the document "Penalties for Breach of Agreed Norms" located on the CC website (cc.interagencygames.org).
10. All cost of money transfers to the host organization must be covered by the payer. The host organization(s) may refuse to accept any registration after the specified deadline. Participants are obliged to accept the conditions of any package deal made by the host organization/agency; this shall be a pre-requisite of participation. It must also be stressed that the IAG is organized by volunteers without any financial reserves so the timely payment of all dues cannot be overemphasized.
11. Each organization wishing to participate in the IAG shall inform the host organization of the nominated disciplines it wishes to take part in at least two months prior to the start of the IAG. Seeding, when applicable, is done by the host organization based on the results of the previous IAG.
12. The host Organization shall ensure that:
    1. participants and registered supporters arriving at the venue will be met and transported to their respective accommodations
    2. there is adequate free transport between the different sporting venues for both participants and registered supporters
    3. there is adequate first aid facilities at the sporting venues
    4. doctors and ambulances are available for emergency calls
    5. adequate physical security for all participants and supporters
    6. the organizers at the host venue take out adequate third party insurance to cover all participants and registered supporters
    7. all playing facilities are of regulation size and quality
    8. copies of the relevant international and IAG specific rules are available for each discipline in English and French
    9. there are trophies and medals for the first three winning teams only1 (any discipline taking place with less than four teams will forfeit their right to a prize). The host organization may decide on a few exceptional individual prizes as deemed necessary. 1 The Control Commission has no problems with individual disciplines awarding their own peers with individual achievement awards. However, these awards must be done within each discipline's confines and the awards must be self financed.
    10. the IAG package for the participants and supporters is arranged on the best terms possible, the payment of which shall be the responsibility of each organizing body
    11. the CC has adequate office facilities to meet situated in a central location
    12. there are qualified coordinators and referees for each discipline
    13. there is an opening and a closing ceremony with the official prize giving taking place at the closing ceremony
13. Each organization or agency shall draw up a legible list of its officials and players by discipline. The list shall be certified by the respective HR department, thereby verifying and confirming that all the participants named are eligible to participate according to the rules of participation. The original list shall be presented to the host organization on arrival at the IAG.
14. Any person of a participating organization or agency who has served under contract, including supernumeraries, 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 IAG open and during their entire duration, is eligible for selection as a member of a team. Any person who has retired from any participating organization or agency is also eligible to participate in the IAG.
15. Staff from different duty stations of the same organization may compete in their own right, based on residency.
16. No individual may participate in more than one discipline. However, in order not to leave a team undermanned the Control Commission may waive this rule in the event of illness or accident. In the case of separate competitions for men and for women, no woman may play in the competition for men or vice versa unless prior approval has been obtained from the Control Commission.
17. Players may not swap teams, within the same discipline, without prior authorization from the Control Commission.
18. If an organization, for whatever reason, is disqualified then this should not affect the results of any mixed teams which may have players on their team from the disqualified organization. In this context the disqualified organizations' name shall not be mentioned in any mixed team should they win a prize.
19. Anyone participating in a competition must hold an identity card with a photograph issued by an official body such as an organizational grounds pass, passport or national ID card or a driving licence. This identity card must be checked by the Coordinators responsible for each discipline before the first encounter. In case of dispute, the issue will be presented to the Control Commission for decision.
20. MEDICAL CERTIFICATES: If the host country or organization requires participants of any discipline to have a medical certificate then this must be complied with and is a prerequisite for participation. The format of the medical certificate shall comply with the requirements of the host country or organization. A note from a doctor or other medical practitioner stating that a person is fit for work does not constitute a medical certificate in the context of the IAG. The medical certificate must be checked by the Coordinators responsible for each discipline before the first encounter. Any person, at any time, whether planned or otherwise replacing a legitimate player in any discipline requiring a medical certificate must also have the same calibre of medical certificate in order to participate. If necessary the certificate should be obtained at the person's own expense from a local qualified medical practitioner. This rule shall be strictly adhered to, there shall be no exceptions.
21. The final ranking of each team shall be determined in accordance with the procedures laid down in the relevant Competition Rules.

 

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