IOI Regulations - Statutes

S1 Preamble

S2 Definitions

S3 Objectives and Means

S4 Office Bearers and Tasks

S5 Host Nomination and Selection

S6 Responsibilities of Present Host

S7 Competition, Judging and Awards

S8 Revisions of the Regulations

 

S1 Preamble

S1.1

The Statutes, the Explications and the Appendices together form the Regulations of the International Olympiad in Informatics.

S1.2

Details of procedures and responsibilities are described in the Appendices.

S1.3

The official working language of the IOI is English.

S1.4

In the scope of the IOI the concept informatics means the domain that is also known as computer science, computing science and information technology, but not the domain computer engineering.

S1.5

In the Statutes the following abbreviations are used:

BP Board of Patrons

EC Evaluation Committee

**ED Executive Director of IOI

GA General Assembly

IC International Committee

IOI International Olympiad in Informatics

IOI'n-1 Past IOI, preceding IOI'n by one year

IOI'n Present IOI in the year n

IOI'n+1 Future IOI, following IOI'n by one year

IS International Secretariat

ISC IOI Scientific Committee

**OED Office of the Executive Director

SC Scientific Committee

 

S2 Definitions

S2.1

The International Olympiad in Informatics (as an ongoing event) is an annual international informatics competition for individual Contestants from various invited Countries, accompanied by social and cultural programmes.

S2.2

The organization of the International Olympiad in Informatics in year n (IOI'n) is the responsibility of a the Host Country for year n.

 

S2.3

A Host Country consists of the responsible Ministry(ies), Institution(s), and/or Corporation(s) in that Country. A Host Country can have the status of Past Host, Present Host, Future Host or Host Candidate.

S2.4

For the IOI, a Country is a nation or state that has an officially recognized relationship with the United Nations, UNESCO, or which has already taken part in one or more past IOIs.

S2.5

A National Delegation of a Country is to be headed by a Delegation Leader. If the status of the National Delegation is:

Participating, the Delegation includes in general a team of one to four Contestants and a Deputy Leader;

Observing, the Delegation may include only a Deputy Leader but no contestants.

All members of a National Delegation are from one Country.

S2.6

A Contestant is a student who was enrolled at a school for secondary education during the period September to December in the year before IOI'n, and is not older than twenty years on the 1st of July of the year of IOI'n.

S2.7

An Observer is a representative of:

A new Country for the IOI;

UNESCO, IFIP, or Board of Patrons;

Future Host, or Present Host;

the International Secretariat.

 

A Country can only have Observer status for one year. Exceptions may be considered for previously participating countries that have not participated in an IOI contest for more than 3 consecutive years.

 

S3 Objectives and Means

The main objectives to be accomplished by the IOI are:

S3.1

To discover, encourage, bring together, challenge, and give recognition to young people who are exceptionally talented in the field of informatics.

S3.2

To foster friendly international relationships among computer scientists and informatics educators.

S3.3

To bring the discipline of informatics to the attention of young people.

 

S3.4

To promote the organization of informatics competitions for students at schools for secondary education.

S3.5

To encourage Countries to organize a future IOI in their Country.

 

**S4 Committees, Office Bearers and Tasks

International Committee

**Chair of the IC

International Secretariat

Board of Patrons

Host Team, Chair of IOI'n

Scientific Committee, Chair of the SC

General Assembly

President of the GA

**Executive Director of the IOI

S4.1

**The International Committee (IC) is a long-term, standing committee, which consists of eleven voting members, all, apart from the Chair, representing different Participating Countries, plus an Executive Director appointed by the IC:

Three immediate Past Host representatives of IOI'n-3, IOI'n-2, and IOI'n-1,

One Present Host representative of IOI'n,

Three immediate Future or Candidate Host representatives of IOI'n+1, IOI'n+2, and IOI'n+3,

Representatives of three Participating Countries elected by the GA for three years,

Chair of the IC,

**Executive Director of IOI (Non-voting).

The IC acts in the general spirit of the Regulations. The IC has the following tasks:

To make proposals to the GA about changes in the Regulations;

To elaborate on the recommendations of the GA;

To make proposals to the GA about Future Host Nominations and Selection;

To invite the participants to IOI'n according to paragraph S6.6;

To function as an addressee for the IOI;

To act on behalf of the GA between IOI'n-1 and IOI'n, and to inform the GA about the activities of the IC during this period;

 

To meet with the Host of IOI'n in the Host Country, at least six months before IOI'n, in order to

Evaluate IOI'n-1,

Examine the organization of IOI'n, and

Adopt the Competition Procedures and the Judging Procedures of IOI'n,

To support the IS.

At meetings of the IC, the voting procedure is on the basis of "one voting member, one vote". The members of the IC are committed to share information about their tasks.

The IC may invite a representative of the IS and a representative of IFIP to attend the IC meetings. These representatives do not have voting rights, nor do any other invitees.

A quorum of at least five voting members must be present at any official meeting of the IC.

S4.2

**The Chair of the IC remains in that position until the Closing Ceremony of IOI'n. This position is held by a member of the Host Team of IOI'n-1. After the Closing Ceremony of IOI'n the position is held by a member of the Host Team of IOI'n.

**The Chair of IC is not a member of a National Delegation.

 

**The Executive Director of IC must provide the minutes of the IC meetings and distribute them within 30 days to IC members. Once approved they must be published by IS.

S4.3

**In the absence of the Chair of the IC, this role is taken up by one of the IC members present.

S4.4

The International Secretariat (IS) is a secretariat servicing the IOI. This secretariat is established by volunteer Ministry(ies), Institution(s), and/or Corporation(s) of a Country for a minimum period of three years. The IS is nominated by the GA. The IS has the following tasks:

Keep an up to date list of names and addresses of Delegation Leaders and Ministries of Education in Participating and Observing Countries;

Collect, maintain, and disseminate all IOI-related materials;

Support continuity in the development of the IOI;

Support a Present Host, a Candidate Host or a Future Host with information which is needed by that Host;

Support the IC and the GA;

Delegate a representative member of the IS to the IC meetings on invitation by the IC.

 

S4.5

The Board of Patrons (BP) is a permanent body, constituted by the IC from respected members of the world of information technology and business. The BP has the necessary profile and influence to:

Promote the IOI;

Provide advice to the IC, upon request or at its own initiative;

Act as an intermediary between the IC and others;

Help provide a fund to support the IOI.

S4.6

The Host Team of IOI'n is the organizing committee which is nominated by the Present Host (i.e. the Host of IOI'n), and which acts on its behalf. The Chair of IOI'n is the Chair of the Host Team. The Chair of IOI'n is not a member of a National Delegation. The Host Team includes as members:

The person who will hold the position of the Secretary-General of the IOI after the Closing Ceremony of IOI'n;

The person who holds the position of the President of the GA during IOI'n;

The person who holds the Chair of the SC during IOI'n.

The tasks of the Present Host and Host Team are drawn up in section S6.

S4.7

The Scientific Committee of IOI'n (SC) is a temporary committee, which is nominated by the Present Host, and is composed of experts in informatics and/or informatics education from the Host Country. The Chair of the SC is a member of the Host Team. Members of the SC are not members of a National Delegation. The SC has the following tasks:

Prepare sufficient Competition Tasks;

Present these tasks and the associated Judging Procedures to the GA for approval;

Execute the Judging Procedures; the SC may establish an Evaluation Committee for this task;

Support the GA with information that is needed for the awarding of medals to the Contestants;

Report to the Host Team about their proceedings on a regular basis.

The Chair of the SC, or a SC member, is required to attend IOI'n-1 as an observer.

S4.8

The General Assembly (GA) is a temporary, short-term committee during IOI'n, which is composed of

The Delegation Leaders and the Deputy Leaders of all Participating Countries,

The members of the IC

The President of the GA,

The Chair of the SC,

 

 

**The Executive Director of the IOI,

The Chair of IOI'n,

A representative of the IS, and

A representative of IFIP.

The GA:

Is the owner of the IOI;

Acts in the general spirit of the Regulations;

Has the voting procedure of "one vote per Participating Country".

The GA has the following tasks:

Take decisions on issues not provided for in the Regulations;

Make recommendations to the IC;

Decide on proposals made by the IC;

Supervise and decide on the Host Nominations and Selection;

Supervise and participate in the selection of Competition tasks and decide on the awarding of medals;

At each IOI, elect a representative of a Participating Country to serve on the IC to replace one of the three elected members retiring by rotation.

S4.9

The GA must hold at least six private meetings:

1st meeting: before the First Competition Day;

2nd meeting: at the beginning of the First Competition Day;

3rd meeting: on the day after the First Competition Day;

4th meeting: at the beginning of the Second Competition Day;

5th meeting: on the day after the Second Competition Day;

6th meeting: before the Awards and Closing Ceremony.

The GA meetings should be attended by:

At least one Leader per Participating Country,

The President of the GA,

The Chair of the SC,

**The Executive Director of the IOI,

 

 

The Chair of IOI'n,

Members of the IC,

A representative of the IS and,

A representative of IFIP.

The GA meetings may be attended by the members of the SC, the members of the Host Team, and the Observers.

Guests may also attend meetings of the GA with permission of the President of the GA.

The GA meetings may NOT be attended by Contestants.

S4.10

The President of the GA of IOI'n is the Chair of the GA. In voting procedures the President does not vote, but the President may cast the deciding vote.

The President is a member of the Host Team. The President is not a member of a National Delegation.

The President of GA must provide the minutes of the decisions of the GA which impact on the future of operations and/or Status of IOI. After being ratified by IC at the first practical opportunity they will be passed on to IS for publicising.

S4.11

The role of the Vice-President of the GA is taken up by the Chair of IOI'n+1. By default, the future Chair of the Host Team of the Host Country for IOI'n+2 will be Vice-President.

The Vice-President takes over in the absence of the President.

S4.12

The IOI Scientific Committee (ISC) is established to work with the SC of each Host Country to ensure continuity and quality control for IOI competitions.

The ISC, a long-term standing committee, is responsible for ensuring that problem set has been created overseeing the test data, and supervising creation and implementation of the grading system. The ISC consists of 7 voting members all of them computer specialists with a background in Olympiad task creation:

This structure ensures that the committee has both long-term and experienced members along with representatives of present, past and future organizers.

The ISC has a chair elected from and by the committee members. The ISC reports directly to the IC.

The IC proposes a list of candidates for the ISC. The GA can extend that list with any candidate supported by at least five participating countries.

 

 

When a member is proposed to represent Host Country n+1, he will be a member for three years.

At meetings of the ISC, the voting procedure is on the basis of "one voting member, one vote". The members of the ISC are committed to share information about their tasks.

The ISC may select adjunct members who may include Host Country representatives and other suitable persons. Adjunct members will not have a vote on the committee nor do any other invitees.

The ISC meets during IOI'n-1, where guidelines for producing the problems of IOI'n will be fixed and

proposals can be made. The ISC will be in frequent communication with SC of the Host Country and will also meet 2-3 months before each IOI’n to screen the problem set, test the grading system and therefore guarantee the smooth operation of IOI’n.

The ISC members travelling costs are at their own expenses but accommodations are at the Host Country expense. ISC members can meet also outside the Host Country provided suitable conditions are offered.

ISC members including the adjunct members will not have contact with the students after seeing the tasks. They are obliged to keep IOI task descriptions and all related material confidential until published at the IOI.

 

**S4.13

**The Office of the Executive Director (OED) is headed by the Executive Director (ED) of the IOI, who is an on-going non-voting member of the IC. The Executive Director is not a member of a National Delegation.

**In the absence of the Executive Director of the IOI, this role is taken-up by the Chair of the IC.

**The Office of the Executive Director (OED) is dedicated to servicing the administrative and developmental needs of the IOI. This Office is established by the IC and GA as an ongoing office.

**The Executive Director is appointed by the IC for a minimum period of three years.

**The OED has the following responsibilities:

 

 

S5 Host Nomination and Selection

S5.1

**An official representative of a Country that is capable and willing to organize an IOI in a particular year, must submit a Letter of Intent to the Executive Director of the IOI.

S5.2

The IC performs a selection procedure and prepares a List of candidates who are willing to organize future IOIs. A Country has the status of Host Candidate after the List has been approved by the GA.

S5.3

**The Executive Director of the IOI issues an official written Invitation to the Host Candidate, more than two years before that particular IOI.

S5.4

A Host Candidate receives the status of Future Host when the Invitation is accepted by the Host Candidate, and confirmed in writing to the Executive Director of the IOI, at least two years before that particular IOI. The IC informs the GA at the first General Assembly after this confirmation.

S5.5

The Present Host is the Host which prepares and implements IOI'n.

S5.6

It is the intention of IC that the status of Host Candidate be conferred no earlier than IOI'n-5 and the status of Future Host be confirmed up to IOI'n-4.

 

S6 Responsibilities of Present Host

S6.1

The Present Host of IOI'n is obliged to organize and implement IOI'n in accordance with the Regulations.

S6.2

The Present Host is obliged to establish a Host Team that acts on its behalf.

S6.3

The Present Host is obliged to establish a SC.

S6.4

The Present Host is obliged to prepare:

Guidelines for the organization of IOI'n, which may be written in the language of the Present Host Country. However, an English summary must be presented to the IC;

Competition Procedures and Judging Procedures, both in English.

S6.5

The Present Host is obliged to organise a meeting of the IC in the Host Country, at least six months before IOI'n.

 

This IC meeting has the following tasks:

Evaluate IOI'n-1 on the basis of the report given by the Host of IOI'n-1;

Examine the organization of IOI'n;

Discuss a presentation of the Guidelines;

Adopt the Competition Procedures and the Judging Procedures.

S6.6

The Present Host is obliged to empower the IC to invite to IOI'n:

National Delegations,

Observers from new Countries that applied for invitation,

An Observer from UNESCO,

An Observer from IFIP,

An Observer from the BP,

Observers from the Future Hosts of IOI'n+1 and IOI'n+2,

An Observer from the IS,

and to send information to all invitees, at least four months before IOI'n, about the

Schedule and Programme,

Competition Procedures,

Judging Procedures,

Location,

Registration,

Present Host,

Country, etc.

S6.6.1

The Present Host can and should communicate it's own wishes concerning the invitation of the Participants to the IC.

S6.6.2

Participants will be invited and participate in IOI'n under the names which have most recently been used by the International Olympic Committee.

 

S6.6.3

The Present Host may want to have a second team in IOI'n. If so:

The Present Host should communicate its intention to the IC at least one year before the event.

The selection of the members of the second team and their leaders is left to the Present Host.

The second team will participate under the name Host-2 or Host-B, but under no flag or other national symbol.

The second team will participate on an equal footing with all other teams, but will not be ranked in the final results used for the awarding of medals.

S6.7

The travel costs to and from the town where the IC has its meeting, or where IOI'n is located, are at the expense of all IC members and all Participants, Observers and Guests. Costs for board and lodging during the IC meeting, or during IOI'n, are at the expense of the Present Host for all IC members, all Participants and Observers of new Countries, UNESCO, IFIP, IS and BP representatives. Other Observers and Guests have to pay a reasonable fee which is fixed by the Present Host.

S6.8

The Host of IOI'n is obliged to produce a report of IOI'n, and send it to the Delegation Leaders of Observing and Participating Countries, members of the IC, IS, and BP, no later than six months after IOI'n. A draft report should be sent to the members of the IC no later than three months after IOI'n.

S6.9

The Host of IOI'n is obliged to:

 

Issue attendance certificates for all participants;

Issue awarding certificates for medallist winner students;

Post the final scores of the medallists students, a list of all participants and another list of all scores which contains no name/country information,

by the end of the IOI’n.

 

S7 Competition, Judging and Awards

S7.1

The informatics Competition will take place during two Competition Days, which both are directly preceded and followed by a non-Competition Day.

S7.2

The Host should give the Contestants the opportunity to practice on the competition equipment, or comparable equipment, on the non-Competition Days.

S7.3

On both Competition Days the Host must ensure that GA members do NOT meet and/or come into any form of contact with Contestants before or during the Competition.

No communication devices may be used by the delegates or students from the time the problems are made known to the delegates and until the embargo is lifted by the President of the GA.

 

S7.4

On both Competition Days the IOI Competition and Judging must follow the general procedures described in statements S7.5 to S7.13. These procedures are described in detail in the Competition Procedures and Judging Procedures.

S7.5

The SC must present printed Competition Procedures, Judging Procedures and Competition Tasks to the meeting of the GA for approval. The Delegation and Deputy Leaders may translate the approved Competition Procedures and Competition Tasks into their national languages, without giving any additional information. All translated tasks must be made available for scrutiny by all Delegation and Deputy Leaders during IOI'n.

S7.6

The Contestants are required to solve the Competition Tasks given to them, together with any translations, but without any oral information.

S7.7

During the Competition each Contestant must work independently on a desk with an appropriate computer, printed Competition Procedures, translated if so required, and pencil and paper.

S7.8

During the Competition, Contestants must obey the Competition Procedures.

S7.9

From the start of the Competition the GA must be present for at least the first hour to translate into English any questions put by the Contestants about the Competition Tasks. The questions are to be answered by the SC, and if required, the GA, with YES, NO, or NO COMMENT.

S7.10

After the period of question-time the GA is not required until the Judging procedure begins.

S7.11

The Judging Procedures are to be carried out directly after the Competition.

The Contestant, his/her Delegation Leader and/or Deputy Leader, and an Evaluator of the Host Country meet at the desk and computer of the Contestant.

The evaluation of the Competition Tasks is executed according to the Judging Procedures.

For each task element that is evaluated, the Evaluator proposes a number of points.

The outcome of the evaluation of each task element is registered on Evaluation Forms.

If the Leader does not agree with the evaluation of a task element, this is registered on the Evaluation Form.

 

S7.12

When a Leader has registered a disagreement, the Leader should be available for a consultation between a member of the SC and the Evaluator the day after the Competition Day in question.

The consultation may lead to a new allocation of points. If the Leader does still not agree with the evaluation, this will be registered on the Evaluation Form together with his arguments.

The arguments will then be discussed by the SC, and the SC will make a final proposal of points.

If this final proposal is not accepted by the Leader, the Leader can bring the controversy to the GA.

The GA will make a final decision after presentations by the Chair of the SC and the Leader.

S7.13

The number of points achieved by the Contestants may NOT be made public before the Awards and Closing Ceremony.

S7.14

After the second Competition Day and before the IOI Awards Ceremony the SC must make a proposal to the GA regarding the awarding of medals to the contestants on the basis of the number of points they achieved. Not more than half of the Contestants are to receive medals on the basis that:

About one twelfth of all Contestants receive a gold medal;

About one sixth of all Contestants receive a silver medal;

About one quarter of all Contestants receive a bronze medal.

This final meeting of the GA must confirm the scores and the awards of the Contestants.

 

S8 Revisions of the Regulations

S8.1

Revisions of the Statutes are prepared and proposed by the IC, and are adopted by the GA by a majority of votes.

S8.2

Revisions of the Explications and the Appendices can be proposed by the GA or the IC, and are to be adopted by the GA by a majority of votes.

 

Created by Tom Verhoeff on MAY-12-95

Updated on JUN-02-95 by daniel.weiler@ci.educ.lu from CIL

Updated on JUN-23-95 by Richard Verhoeven

Updated on FEB-05-96 by Peter Hanak

Edited and updated as at 17-AUG-98 by Per Stilborg

Updated as at 14-OCT-99 by Per Stilborg

Drafted as at 1-SEP-2000 by Per Stilborg/Lionel Hartmann