Multi-disciplinary Resolutions & Decisions

FEI Policy for Enhanced Competition Safety during the Covid-19 pandemic (suspended until further notice by Board Resolution on 4 October 2022)

Following text to be included in all Draft Schedules: “Given the current covid-19 situation, please note that the FEI’s approval of a Schedule should not be taken as an absolute guarantee that the Event will definitely go ahead. The decision whether the Event can take place in consideration of the Covid-19 situation must be made by the OC and NF in close consultation with the applicable domestic government and public health authorities. It is the responsibility of each Participant to check the status of the Event and Covid-19 related measures, if any, prior to planning their travel to the Event. It is the responsibility of the OC/NF to elaborate, communicate and enforce a Covid-19 mitigation plan if requested by the locally applicable laws and policies.”

At its videoconference on 15 April 2020, the FEI Board had mandated the FEI Medical Committee to work on a protocol for National Federations and Organising Committees to provide measures for the safe resumption of international equestrian events when approved by the World Health Organization and national governments.

Dr Mark Hart, Chair of the Medical Committee, presented a draft of the FEI Policy for Enhanced Competition Safety during the Covid-19 pandemic to the Board during its virtual meeting on 5 May 2020. The Medical Committee and FEI Headquarters have now been further mandated to finalise the Policy, which will include an obligation for Organisers to carry out a Risk Assessment to host safe competitions as well as a set of recommended discipline-specific guidelines. Once completed, the Board will give final sign-off for the Policy, including a Risk Assessment tool, in advance of distribution to National Federations and Organisers.

The Policy & Risk Assessment tools are available in the Return To Play section.

The Board agrees to uphold this Resolution until further notice.

Extension of FEI Competency-Based Evaluation System (CES) timelines for Officials

As per its Resolution of 24 June 2020, the Board approves an extension of timelines for Officials to fulfil their officiating requirements through the CES. The deadline, which was previously until 15 December 2020, is now extended to 15 December 2024.

Organisers Covid-19 Fees

As per its Resolution of 20 October 2020, the Board agrees until further notice not to allow any additional Covid-19 Fees to be included by the Organisers in the Draft Schedules.

Calendar Task Forces

Based on the Resolution of the Board of 24 March 2020, the Board confirms that the Calendar Task Forces would remain in place until further decision from the Board.

Deadlines and date clash rules for Calendar Applications/Draft Schedules

The Board agrees to go back to the “ORIGINAL” COVID-19 EVENT DEADLINES (not the EHV-1 deadlines which were for some disciplines much shorter) until further notice.

Please refer to Annex 1. 

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 16 January 2022. This FEI Board Resolution is therefore final.

FEI Officials

Due to the impossibility for many Organisers to fulfil the requirements regarding FEI Officials at their Events, the FEI Board mandates FEI Headquarters, until further notice, to decide upon request on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with the Technical Committees, a derogation of the applicable FEI Rules & Regulations regarding the necessary FEI Officials at a given competition.

Any derogations to be made will be subject to government imposed travel/quarantine restrictions that will prevent overseas Officials from travelling to attend Competitions.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 16 January 2022. This FEI Board Resolution is therefore final.

Based on the Annex and taking into account the travel restriction still in place, mainly in Australia and New Zealand, the Board approves the possibility for the Dressage Committee and Vaulting Committee to grant exemptions on a case by case basis to review the requirements related to the appointment of Officials for competitions qualifying for the Dressage and Vaulting World Championships 2022 and allow on-line supervision of competitions when and as appropriate.

The Board agreed the FEI Sports Forum 2021 should be held online as a result of the ongoing uncertainty around travel restrictions and sanitary requirements linked to Covid-19. The dates of 1-2 June 2021 were maintained. For more information on the FEI Sports Forum 2021, click here.

(DEROGATED BY BOARD RESOLUTION OF 14 DECEMBER 2021)

In light of the challenges for Group B Officials to attend in-person Maintenance Courses as a result of Covid-19, the Board agreed to maintain the requirement for an existing in-person Maintenance Course and to provide an “Emergency Virtual Maintenance Programme” as a second option.

Group B Officials will now have two options to choose from:

• Option 1: In-person Maintenance Course – choice by default
• Option 2: Emergency Virtual Maintenance Programme – on request & sign-up

From 2022 onwards, all Officials will be required to pass an annual CES Online Assessment, and to attend at least one in-person or virtual maintenance course every three years.

In order to give National Federations and Organisers more flexibility when applying for their Events in the FEI Calendar (and consequently providing more options for the Athletes to compete), the FEI Board agreed to reduce the deadlines for Calendar applications in Jumping, Dressage and Eventing – see the specific discipline Resolutions here:

- Jumping (Resolution 19 March 2021)

- Dressage (Resolution 22 March 2021)

- Eventing (Resolution 24 March 2021)

The table with the Date Application Deadlines for Events in the FEI Calendar and for all disciplines is available here. 

The Board approved an exception to Article 132.1 of the FEI General Regulations until further notice. According to this exception, which applies to all Disciplines, the FEI Headquarters shall have the flexibility to reduce the minimum number of accreditations required under this Article.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 18 March 2021. The FEI Board Resolution is therefore final. 

The Board approved a one-year extension to the Host Agreement with the Organiser (Traverse City (USA)) to cover the 2023 Championships, as the first year of the three years allocated to the Organiser had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. This approval is subject to the Organiser and USEF signing an Addendum to the current Host Agreement.

Based on the Resolution of the Board of 24 March 2020, the Board confirmed that the Calendar Task Forces would remain in place in 2021 until further decision from the Board.

The Board approved additional updates to the Resolution on deadlines for late date applications and Date Clash Rules initially approved on 10 September, including increased “leniency” on some deadlines until further notice. The relevant table can be found here. This table includes the deadlines by which the Calendar late date application/modification forms, draft schedules and Covid-19 risk assessment and mitigation plans must be received for Events to be considered for inclusion in the Calendar.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 17 January 2021. The FEI Board Resolution is therefore final. 

Due to the impossibility for many Organisers to fulfil the requirements regarding FEI Officials at their Events, the FEI Board mandated FEI Headquarters, until further notice, to decide upon request on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with the Technical Committees, a derogation of the applicable FEI Rules & Regulations regarding the necessary FEI Officials at a given competition.

Any derogations to be made will be based on a Policy to be established by the FEI Headquarters and Technical Committees.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 19 December 2020. This FEI Board Resolution is therefore final.

The Board agreed to not allocate new/additional Events to the FEI Named Series that run in 2020-2021 and in 2021 so as to not increase the financial obligations of the FEI.

The Board acknowledged its Resolution of 10 September 2020 according to which all Organisers who were originally allocated a Qualifier by the Board would automatically be allocated a Qualifier for the 2021/22 season (subject to signature of the Host Agreement) without any application or bid process (unless the Organiser informs the FEI that they do not want to host a Qualifier for the 2021/22 season).

The Board agreed not to allow any additional Covid-19 Fees to be included by the Organisers in the Draft Schedules.

The Board agreed to:

• Postpone the decision on the organisation of the FEI European Championships 2021 to its Teleconference on 20 October 2020 due to the ongoing discussions.
• Allow the FEI Jumping and Eventing Calendar Task Forces to discuss the possibility of organising the Jumping or Eventing European Championships 2021 during the dates of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, if no better date could be found.

Participation at FEI Championships

The Board agreed to:

• Maintain the minimum number of National Federations/teams to participate at FEI Championships as per the current FEI Rules and Regulations.
• Allow the organisation of an FEI Championship unless the Championship is not accessible for political, religious or ideological reasons to all participants (including, but not limited to, Athletes, Horses, Support Personnel and Team Officials) that have a right, according to the relevant FEI Rules and Regulations, to participate in the Championship.

Considering that the situation created by Covid-19 was not improving, the FEI Board agreed to prolong the specific measures taken in 2020 regarding the FEI Calendar application deadlines also in 2021 until further notice. The relevant table can be found here. This table includes the deadlines by which the Calendar late date application/modification forms, draft schedules and Covid-19 risk assessment and mitigation plans must be received for Events to be considered for inclusion in the Calendar.

For the avoidance of doubt, Covid-19 Resolutions relating to Date Clash Rules in 2020 will not be extended into 2021. Date Clash Rules as established in the General Regulations and in the Discipline Rules shall apply in 2021 to all Categories and to 2022 Events, where applicable.

In accordance with Art. 112 of the FEI General Regulations, the dates for all 2021 International Events must be entered into the FEI online Calendar through FEI Database no later than Thursday 1 October 2020 midnight CEST. This also applies to all 5* Jumping events in 2022. Any modifications requested after the deadline will need to be addressed to the FEI by email (calendar@fei.org) using the modification form available on FEI Documents.

However, please note:

• Date clash rules apply as per the Rules before COVID-19.
• Due to Covid-19, for 2021, no Late Calendar fee will be invoiced.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 11 October 2020. The FEI Board Resolution is therefore final. 

The Board agreed that all Organisers who were originally allocated a Qualifier by the Board would automatically be allocated a Qualifier for the 2021/22 season (subject to signature of the Host Agreement) without any application or bid process (unless the Organiser informs the FEI that they do not want to host a Qualifier for the 2021/22 season):

• FEI Dressage World Cup™ – Western European League 2021/22
• FEI Driving World Cup™ 2021/22
• FEI Jumping Ponies’ Trophy 2021
• FEI Eventing Nations Cup™ 2021

In cases where the National Federations “rotate” the qualifier each year between different Organisers in their country, it would be left up to the relevant National Federation to inform the FEI which Organiser would hold the Qualifier in 2021/22.

This Resolution would not apply to Organisers who were allocated Qualifiers to replace 2020/21 Qualifiers that were cancelled.

If applications are received from new Organisers to host 2021/2022 Qualifiers (i.e. from Organisers who were not originally part of the 2020/21 season) such applications would be reviewed on a case by case basis, by the relevant Technical Committee, with regards to the quality of the Event and compatibility with the Series calendar, before being proposed to the Board for allocation.

As the Qualifiers for the FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Youth 2021 have also already been allocated (at a previous Board Teleconference) but the 2021 Final has not, the FEI would open a “light” bidding process for applications to host the Final.

Due to Covid-19, for 2021, no Late Calendar fee will be invoiced.

The FEI Board decided to provide the Bids/Expressions of Interest received through the EEF for these Championships to the relevant Technical Committees and Calendar Task Forces to understand if they want the FEI Board to reconsider its previous decision to cancel these Championships.

The Executive Board agreed that the FEI Headquarters could waive the hosting fee for FEI World Cup™ Qualifiers on a case by case basis and based on a valid reason from the Organiser.

The Board reconfirmed its previous decision that all Youth Championships must be held during the school holidays and that no exceptions would be made for Covid-19 related complications.

The Board agreed that any future 2020 Championships that need to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic before the end of December 2020 will not be considered for reallocation or postponement in order to provide clarity to the community and avoid further logistical difficulties with rearranging Championships in an Olympic and Paralympic year following the postponement of Tokyo 2020.

The Board decided that Organisers whose Championships had been cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic were eligible to enter bid processes for future unallocated editions of the Championships even though the deadline for submission of bids had passed.

The Board approved an extension of timelines for Officials to fulfil their officiating requirements through the CES. The deadline, which was previously until 15 December 2020, is now extended to 15 December 2021.

The Board also approved the development of a Virtual Maintenance Course to cope with the high number of In-Person Maintenance Courses scheduled for 2021.

The Board received an overview of the measures already approved and their financial consequences and agreed the FEI hold discussions with the Equestrian Organisers (EO) and the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) in order to explore further possible solutions that would re-energise the equestrian sporting calendar

In order to simplify National Federations procedure when entering Athletes for International Events and Championships, the Board authorised the FEI Headquarters, in consultation with the relevant Technical Committee, to deviate from the deadlines for entries as established by Article 116 of the FEI General Regulations upon request and on a case-by-case basis until 31 December 2020.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 22 July 2020. The FEI Board Resolution is therefore final. 

• Recapitulative table for each discipline (pdf) - (updated 16 December 2021)

The Board approved the following Resolution under Art. 20.3 of the FEI Statutes (Emergency Situation):

• For all applications/modifications to the FEI Calendar whose period of submission has been shortened, National Federations must also submit the Draft Schedule at the same time that they submit their Calendar date requests.
• All requests for date changes must be submitted to the FEI through the National Federations.

No NFs signified disapproval by the deadline of 28 May 2020. The FEI Board Resolution is therefore final.

In view of Tokyo 2020 taking place in the summer of 2021 from 23 July to 8 August and based on:

• The confirmation from the Organiser of the FEI European Championships 2021 in Jumping, Dressage and Para Dressage, Budapest (HUN), that they will not be in a position to host the Championships on a different date; and
• The preference of the Organiser of the FEI Eventing European Championships 2021, Haras du Pin (FRA), to organise it in 2023 rather than on a different date in 2021;

The Board agreed not to re-open the bids for 2021, hence not to organise the FEI European Championships for Seniors in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines in 2021.

The Board agreed to waive any Calendar Fee for Events organised after 15 March 2020 until the end of 2020, either a regular Calendar Fee, a late application or a modification Calendar Fee. Further decisions, if any, on how the FEI can help organisers financially has been deferred to the FEI Board meeting in June until there is more clarity on how many Events will potentially be organised in 2020.

The Board agreed to inform the National Federations and Organisers, whose Calendar date applications/modifications had been approved by the FEI during the Covid-19 period, that no guarantee of exclusivity would be provided to them for the new Calendar dates and that equal considerations of all future Calendar date applications/modifications would be given by the Task Forces and by the FEI Board.

The Board approved the creation of a series of discipline-specific Task Forces to evaluate the impact on the FEI Calendar of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in multiple Event cancellations, under the following terms:

• The Task Forces will review all FEI Calendar related issues caused by the Covid-19 virus and make recommendations to the FEI Board and relevant Technical Committees on ways to address them.
• The Task Forces shall remain in place until further decision from the Board.
• The Task Forces shall be composed as follows, as decided on a case by case basis by the FEI Headquarters:
  i. The FEI Secretary General
  ii. The FEI Vice Presidents
  iii. The EEF Chair
  iv. The Chair of the relevant Technical Committee
  v. The President of the Equestrian Organisers
  vi. One representative for Athletes per Discipline
  vii. The FEI Governance & Institutional Affairs Director
  viii. The relevant FEI Sports Director
  ix. The FEI Calendar Administrator
  x. The FEI IT Representative
  xi. The FEI Legal Representative
• The Chair of the Task Forces shall be the Secretary General.
• The Task Forces shall meet at the request of the Secretary General.
• The FEI President will be kept fully updated on the work of each of the Task Forces and, where required, assist in finalising proposals to be put forward to the FEI Board for approval.
• Any other technical details for the management and functioning of the Task Forces, if necessary, to be established by the Secretary General.