As approved by GA 1982, amended by GA 1984 to 2016.

1. Introduction

1.1       The following regulations can only be altered by the General Assembly following recommendation by the Arbiters’ Commission.
1.1.1    Changes to the regulations shall only be made every four year, commencing from 2004 (unless the Commission agrees urgent action is required).
1.1.2    Any such changes shall take effect from 1 July of the year following the decision by the General Assembly.
1.1.3    The titles for award are International Arbiter (IA) and FIDE Arbiter (FA).
1.1.4    The titles are valid for life from the date awarded or registered.
1.1.5    The judging unit is The FIDE Arbiters’ Commission.
1.1.6    The Arbiter Commission is appointed by the General Assembly for the same period of office as the FIDE President. The Commission shall include a Chairman, appointed by the FIDE President, a Secretary, appointed by the Chairman in consultation with the FIDE President and not more than 11 experts, maximum one per federation, who shall have voting rights in the Commission. No federation shall have more than one representative in the Commission.
1.1.7    The Presidential Board or Executive Board may confirm the titles under 1.1.3 in clear cases only, after consultation with the Arbiters Commission chairman.
1.1.8    The Commission usually makes its decisions in the sessions immediately preceding the opening of the General Assemblies.
1.1.9    In exceptional circumstances, the Commission may recommend a title by correspondence voting.
1.1.10 National federations may register their Arbiters of National level(s) with FIDE after approval by the FIDE Arbiters’ Commission.

2. General Regulations

2.1.2    An arbiter in the highest division of the National Team Championship; whereby the following requirements are met:
1.  a minimum of four boards per team;
2.  a minimum of ten teams and six teams, in case of a Double Round Robin tournament; 
3.  at least 60% of the players are FIDE rated;
4.  at least five rounds.
2.1.3    Two (2) different formats of tournaments shall be included as norms for the applications for both FA and IA title (i.e. Swiss or Round Robin or Team Tournaments). Only Swiss System Tournaments may be accepted in case that at least one (1) of them is an international FIDE rated chess event with at least 100 players, at least 30% FIDE rated players, and at least 7 rounds.
In order an International FIDE rated chess event to be valid as a norm for the FA title, it must have participants from at least two (2) Federations.
In order an International FIDE rated chess event to be valid as a norm for the IA title, it must have participants from at least three (3) Federations.
2.1.4    Applicants for the title of IA/FA must be at least 21 years old.
2.1.5    Arbiters of national Level must be at least 16 years old.

3. Requirements for the title of FIDE Arbiter.
All of the following:

3.1       Thorough knowledge of the Laws of Chess, the FIDE Regulations for chess competitions and the Swiss Pairing Systems.
3.2       Absolute objectivity, demonstrated at all times during his activity as an arbiter.
3.3       Sufficient knowledge of the at least one official FIDE language.
3.4       Skills to operate electronic clocks of different types and for different systems.
3.5       Experience as Arbiter in at least three (3) FIDE rated events (these can be either national or international) and attendance of at least one (1) FIDE Arbiters’ Seminar and successful passing (at least 80%) an examination test set up by the Arbiters Commission.
FIDE rated event valid for a norm is considered any tournament with minimum 10 players in case that it is played with Round Robin system, with minimum 6 players in case that it is played with Double Round Robin system and with minimum 20 players in case that it is played with Swiss system.
3.6       The title of the FIDE Arbiter for each of the IBCA, ICCD, IPCA shall each be equivalent to one FA norm.
3.7       For a candidate, being a match arbiter in an Olympiad is equivalent to one FA norm. No more than one such norm will be considered for the title.
3.8       Being Arbiter in any FIDE rated Rapid or Blitz events, with minimum thirty (30) players and nine (9) rounds, shall be equivalent to one (1) FA norm. No more than one such norm from Rapid or Blitz tournaments will be considered for the title.
3.9       Attendance of one (1) FIDE Arbiters Seminar and successful passing (at least 80%) an examination test set by the Arbiters Commission, shall be equivalent to one (1) FA norm. Not more than one (1) such norm will be considered for the title.
3.10     Applicants from federations which are unable to organize any tournaments valid for titles or rating, may be awarded the title on passing an examination set by the Arbiters’ Commission.

4. Requirements for the title of International Arbiter.
All of the following:

4.1       Thorough knowledge of the Laws of Chess, the FIDE Regulations for chess competitions, the Swiss Pairing Systems, the FIDE Regulations regarding achievement of title norms and the FIDE Rating System.
4.2       Absolute objectivity, demonstrated at all times during his activity as an arbiter.
4.3       Obligatory knowledge of English language, minimum at conversation level; and of chess terms in other official FIDE languages.
4.4       Minimum skills at user level to work on a personal computer. Knowledge of pairing programs endorsed by the FIDE, Word, Excel and E-mail.
4.5       Skills to operate electronic clocks of different types and for different systems.
4.6       Experience as Arbiter in at least four (4) FIDE rated events such as the following:
a)  The final of the National Individual (adult) Championship (maximum two norms).
b)  All official FIDE tournaments and matches.
c)  International tournaments where FIDE title norms for players are possible.
d)  International FIDE rated chess events with at least 100 players, from at least three (3) Federations, at least 30% FIDE rated players, and at least seven rounds (maximum one norm).
e)  All official World and Continental Rapid and Blitz Championships for adult and juniors (maximum one (1) norm).
4.7       The title of the International Arbiter for each of the IBCA, ICCD, IPCA shall each be equivalent to one IA norm.
4.8       Being a match arbiter in an Olympiad is equivalent to one IA norm. No more than one such norm will be considered for the title.
4.9       The title of International Arbiter can be awarded only to applicants who have already been awarded the title of FIDE Arbiter.
4.10     All the norms for the IA title must be different from the norms already used for the FA title and must have been achieved after the FA title has been awarded.
4.11     At least two (2) of the submitted norms shall be signed by different Chief Arbiters.

5. Application Procedure

5.1       Application forms for the titles listed in 1.1.3 are annexed hereto. They are:
Tournament Report Form with cross-table and decisions on appeals – IT3 (one for each norm)
Arbiter Norm Report Form – IA1 or FA1 (one for each norm)
Arbiter Title Application Form – IA2 or FA2.
5.2       For the FIDE Arbiter title the norms must include tournaments (according to 3.5) with at least seven (7) rounds. Only one (1) tournament with five (5) or six (6) rounds shall be accepted.
For the International Arbiter title the norms must include tournaments (according to 4.6) with at least nine (9) rounds. Only one (1) tournament with seven (7) or eight (8) rounds shall be accepted.
In case of norms from Team Tournaments the number of rounds where the applicant was an Arbiter must be at least five (5) and it must be indicated in the FA1/IA1 form.
All the certificates have to be signed by the Chief Arbiter and the federation responsible for the tournament.
In case the applicant is the Chief Arbiter of the event, then the Organizer or the Federation Official may sign the certificate.
If the Chief Arbiter is Arbiter of National Level, he cannot sign any certificate for International Arbiter title.
5.3      All norms included in the applications must have been achieved in events with starting dates that fall within a six-year period. The application must be submitted not later than the second FIDE Congress after the date of the latest event listed. Norms from Seminars are valid for a period of four (4) years.
5.4       Applications must be submitted to the FIDE Secretariat by the federation of the applicant. The National federation is responsible for the fee. If the applicant’s federation refuses to apply, the applicant can bring his case to the Arbiters’ Commission, who will investigate it. If it is found that there is no sufficient reason for the refusal, the applicant can appeal to FIDE and apply (and pay) for the title himself.
5.5       There is a 60-day deadline in order for the applications to be considered properly. There is a 50% surcharge for applications to be considered in a shorter time-scale than this. Those arriving during the Presidential Board, Executive Board or General Assembly shall be charged a 100% supplement.
Exception: the surcharge may be waived, if the last norm was achieved so late that the time limit could not be observed.
5.6       All applications together with full details must be posted on the FIDE website for a minimum of 60 days prior to finalization. This is in order for any objections to be lodged.

6. Arbiters’ Licence.

6.1       A titled active Arbiter (International Arbiter or FIDE Arbiter) and Arbiters of National levels working in a FIDE rated tournament shall be charged with a “license fee”.
6.2.1    The license will be valid for life, on the condition the Arbiter remains an active arbiter, and will be in effect from the day after FIDE has received the fee.
6.2.2    The license fee for Arbiters of National levels is valid for life.
6.2.3    If an Arbiter of National level is awarded the title of “FIDE Arbiter” the license fee for this title has to be paid to FIDE.
6.2.4    If an Arbiter upgrades his/her category only the difference between the category fees has to be paid to FIDE.
6.2.5    If a “FIDE Arbiter” achieves the title of “International Arbiter”, the fee for the new title has to be paid to FIDE.
6.3       The license fee will be:

6.4       Failure to pay the license fee will lead to exclusion from the FIDE Arbiters’ list.
6.5       The Arbiters’ license will come into effect from 01. 01. 2013.
6.6       From 01. 01. 2013 all arbiters of FIDE rated tournaments shall be licensed.
6.7.1    An arbiter who has become inactive (see annex 2, articles 1.3 and 1.4) is considered not to be licensed any more.
6.7.2    In order to be active again the arbiter has to pay for a new license, according to 6.3.
6.8       If the article 6.6 is not fulfilled, the tournaments shall not be rated and any Arbiters’ norms shall not be accepted.
6.9       From 01. 01. 2013 the license fee will be charged together with the application fee for all awarded arbiter titles.

7.

List of Application Forms:

1. Tournament report form IT3.
2. International Arbiter norm report form IA1.
3. Application for award of the title of International Arbiter IA2.
4. FIDE Arbiter norm report form FA1.
5. Application for award of the title of FIDE Arbiter FA2.
6. FIDE Lecturer norm report FL1.
7. Application form for FIDE Lecturer FL2.

8.

Annex 1: Regulations for the training of the chess arbiters.
Annex 1a: Regulations for the Organization Internet Based FIDE Arbiters' Seminars.
Annex 1b: List of Lecturers for the FIDE Arbiters Seminars.

9.

Annex 2: Regulations for the classification of the arbiters.

10.

Annex 3: List of Arbiters.

11.

Annex 4: Arbiters' structure in FIDE events.

12.

Annex 5a: Disciplinary regulations for Arbiters.
Annex 5b: FIDE Arbiters' Commission Disciplinary Subcommittee.

13.

Annex 6: Anti cheating guidelines for Arbiters.