Dear WCA Community,

The WCA Regulations Committee would like to inform you about a new version of the WCA Regulations and Guidelines, which are going into effect August 1, 2020.

The WRC has been working on a new WCA Regulations and Guidelines amendment in conjunction with the WCA Board of Directors. This amendment is meant to complement the WCA Competition Safety Policy and to guarantee safer conditions in WCA Competitions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can review all changes in this comparison on GitHub. You can click on “Files changed” to see the complete files of the Regulation and Guidelines, where all changes and additions are marked green and removals are red.

Here is a summary of the changes in the new version of the Regulations and the Guidelines (discussion):

• A new article Y is added to the Regulations which complements the Safety Policy. It is expected that the changes will be reverted once it is safe to do so.
• WCA Delegates can impose additional requirements on attendees like wearing masks or not having COVID symptoms, if it is necessary and if it is clearly announced before the competition (Regulations Y3 and Y3a through Y3d).
• The competitor resets the timer instead of the judge. The judge reminds the competitor to do so (Regulation Y7d1).
• Competitors who behave unsafely might be disqualified by the WCA Delegate (Regulation 2k3) and requested to leave the venue (Regulation 11h).
• Some additions that make the Regulations more inline with the Safety Policy:
  • Competitors should bring their own pens (Regulation Y4), judges may bring their own stopwatches (Regulation Y5).
  • Competitors, without touching the scoresheet, must sign the result recorded by their judge using their own pen (Regulation Y7e1).
  • There should be fixed seats and there shouldn’t be a Competitor Area if unnecessary (Regulations Y6a, Y7a).
  • The competitor places the puzzle inside the cover after the attempt (Regulation Y7f).