|
Draft IMO 2021 (Virtual) Annual Regulations
(May 5 2021)
UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time, commonly known as GMT in some countries.
1. An official delegation of a participating country of the 62nd International
Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 2021) consists of no more than six Contestants, the Leader
and Deputy Leader, jointly called Participants, as well as accompanying Observers.
2. These (revised) Annual Regulations for (the virtual) IMO 2021 have been approved
by the IMO Board according to paragraph 1.7 of the General Regulations.
3. There are no charges or fees to particpate in IMO 2021, but participating countries
are responsible for hire charges for Exam Centres and associated equipment, and travel and
accommodation expenses for IMO Commissioners.
4. The Host Country for IMO 2021 is the Russian Federation. IMO 2021 is a purely
virtual event because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and regulations relating to events for
Participants and Observers physically taking place in the Host Country do not apply. Online
activities will replace the excursions and/or cultural trips referred to in paragraph 3.5 of the
General Regulations.
5. The Host Organization of IMO 2021 is the Herzen State Pedagogical University of
Russia (Herzen University).
6. Participation of countries and territories must be confirmed online on the website
https://www.imo-official.org no later than May 31st 2021.
7. Registration of Leaders, Deputy Leaders, Observers and the number of Contestants
must be completed online on the website https://www.imo-official.org no later than 31 May
2021 (this is an extension of an earlier deadline). Each Country may have a maximum of
two Observers A (per Exam centre) to assist their Leader, and a maximum of two Observers
C (per Exam centre) to facilitate child protection. There will be no Observers B at IMO
2021.
8. Proposals for problems must have been received by 30 April 2021. Proposals were
submitted via the portal at the IMO official website.
9. Registration of Contestants must be completed online on the website
https://www.imo-official.org no later than 30 June 2021.
10. There will be elections and nomination for IMO official positions. There may be jury
Zoom meetings to support these activities. Any decisions that should be taken by the Jury
(such as approval of problems, approval of translations, approval of marking schemes) will
be made by the Jury Chair, taking advice from the IMO Board, on behalf of the Jury, except
where stated otherwise. The Jury Chair may call video conference Jury meetings at his or
her discretion. Amendments of the General Regulations for future IMOs may not be made
at IMO 2021. Any decisions required to be made about the hosting of future IMOs may be
made by the IMO Board on behalf of the Jury, if required to be made before IMO 2021.
11. The elections to the IMO Board that were scheduled to take place at IMO 2020 will
instead take place at IMO 2021, with the terms of existing elected members of the IMO
Board that were due to end at the end of IMO 2020 being extended until the end of IMO
2021; the terms of members elected at those deferred elections will end at the end of IMO
2024, as they would have if the elections had not been deferred. The terms of other elected
members of the IMO Board are unaffected.
12. Exams must take place in national IMO Exam Centres, approved by the Host
Organization. Any expenses associated with hiring facilities are the responsibility of
participating countries, who are also responsible for ensuring that an Exam Centre is a
suitable and safe environment, with all appropriate facilities that are expected at a normal
IMO.
13. For each IMO Exam Centre, there will be an IMO Commissioner, appointed by the
IMO Board subject to the approval of the Host Organization. A Commisioner will be a
trusted individual. The Leader is responsible for recruiting a Commissioner for each Exam
Centre. The names and contact information of each proposed Commissioner will be entered
by the Leader at the IMO Registration website. If possible, the Commissioner should not
be a citizen of a country using that Exam Centre, and where possible have some familiarity
with IMO traditions and procedures. In pandemic conditions, meeting these conditions may
be difficult, and Leaders are asked to nominate suitable reliable Commissioners (and it is
permitted to appoint a Commissioner from your own country if no suitable foreign national
is available). The IMO Commissioner will oversee the conduct of the exams, including
reviewing answers provided by the Leader to questions from Contestants. The IMO
Commissioner will work with the IMO Ethics Committee as necessary to ensure the exams
are conducted properly and that the IMO Ethics Committee is provided with any necessary
information. Where a Contestant representing one Country is residing in another Country
at the time of the IMO, their participation in the exams may be overseen by the IMO
Commissioner for the Country in which they are residing, or by another IMO
Commissioner, subject to the approval of the IMO Board. Participating nations are
responsible for paying any expenses incurred by the IMO Commissioner (e.g.
accommodation for one night, travel inside the country).
14. The Official Programme for Leaders and Observers A begins on 16 July 2021 and
ends on 24 July 2021. In the early phase of the competition, there will be testing of
communications and clarifications of protocols rather than Jury meetings, and possibly
other online activities.
15. The Official Programme for Deputy Leaders, Contestants and Observers C begins
on 18 July2021 and ends on 24 July 2021.
16. There will be an online Opening Ceremony on 18 July 2021.
17. Contest problems will not be released until shortly before the sitting of exams (for
translation where necessary). The Contest problems will be selected by the Problem
Selection Committee (not the Jury) with advice from the Ethics Committee and IMOBoard
members at the final stages. The Contest problems will be sent to an Official Languages
Committee, whose membership has been approved by the IMO Board, on 17 July 2021.
The Official Languages Committee must include at least two people fluent in each of the
official languages. Solutions will be released to Leaders after the last student has finished
sitting the corresponding exam (somewhere in the world, so likely in UTC -5). Leaders
must provide their translations of exam papers into other languages, and send their language
versions to IMO2021 using an online process specified by the Host Organization. After
each exam, IMO Commissioners will send scans of scripts to the Coordinators. Leaders
have 48 hours to provide precise translations into an Official IMO language of any unclear
parts of each student's script (and any relevant rough work). These translations will be sent
to the Coordinators and the IMO Ethics Committee by a procedure to be specified by the
Host Organization. Leaders may obtain assistance from colleagues (but not participating
students) when making these translations. Note that, even when a student has written in an
Official Language, if a student has poor handwriting, Leaders should assist the
Coordinators by providing a clear version of the important parts of a student's script in a
format which the Coordinators will find maximally useful.
18. Exam conditions: IMO exams should take place in a sufficiently large room or hall
to facilitate social distancing (to the extent required by local authorities and the state of the
pandemic). Desks should be widely spaced. It is compulsory that Leaders arrange to use
webcams to provide a live feed of pictures of examinations taking place to the Chief
Invigilator and IMO Ethics Committee.
19. The Contest days for IMO 2021 will be 19 July and 20 July 2021. All Contestants
must have been born on or after 2 July 2001. Contestants will sit the Contest in the country
they currently reside in, at a location designated the national IMO Exam Centre by their
Leader. In order to participate officially in IMO2021, students must sit the exam at the
Exam Centre, in the presence of an IMO Commissioner. An exception may be made in
countries where the pandemic is so bad that it is unsafe or illegal for students to gather in a
socially distanced Exam Centre. In such cases, Leaders may apply to
imocommission@gmail.com to use the Victoria Protocol developed for IMO2020. Please
put your Country name in the subject line. On each day, the paper must be sat for a single
period of four and a half hours, starting at a time in the interval [07:30, 12:00] UTC and
finishing 4 hours 30 minutes later. When the virtual IMO is happening, UTC will be IMO
time. For each Country, all Contestants in a Country must sit the Contest at the same time.
All persons receiving the problems, including Contestants, must keep them confidential
until 23:59 UTC 20 July 2021. In accordance with paragraph 6.6 of the General
Regulations, the substitute shortlist for IMO 2020 remains confidential until 23:59 UTC 20
July 2021, and the substitute shortlist for IMO 2021 remains confidential until the end of
the Contest for IMO 2022.
20. In a region of the world where the pandemic conditions permit travel, it is possible
for more than one Country to use the same IMO Exam Centre. In this case, only one IMO
Commissioner is required to be present to oversee the translations and examinations. Such
arrangements, where safe, are encouraged, since they will give something of a normal IMO
experience to participating students.
21. Electronic equipment of any kind (including timekeeping equipment) may not be
brought into IMO exams. This regulation does not apply to internal equipment such as a
heart pacemaker or a cochlea implant. Details of externally worn hearing aids or any other
electronic equipment worn for medical reasons must be submitted for approval to the IMO
Ethics Committee the day before the first IMO exam.
22. Contestants are allowed to ask written questions in the first half hour of the Contest.
Questions do not need to be considered by the Jury. The Leader may give a written answer
to a question, supervised by the IMO Commissioner, provided that it is a question
sufficiently similar to one of those on a list of likely questions (and answers) which will be
provided by the IMO 2021 Official Languages Committee. If there is an unexpected
question, leaders must contact the specialist Question and Answer Committee by email
conference, before providing a written answer to a student. Records of all questions and
answers must be supplied to the Chief Invigilator and IMO Ethics Committee by a
procedure to be specified by the Host Organization.
23. There will be webcam supervision of Exam Centres according to detailed procedures
to be published in due course. The monitors will be physically in St Petersburg, but they
will report to, and follow the instructions of, the IMO Board, a body legally constituted in
the Netherlands, and so inside the European Union. Audio and Video records will be
destroyed as soon as possible after the IMO, if it is clear that no irregularity is involved
(certainly within one month of the end of IMO 2021).
24. Coordination will be very similar to normal coordination, except that it will be
conducted through the software developed at IMO2020. The coordination days will be 20,
21, 22 July. There will be problem captains and a Chief Coordinator as usual. Final appeal
to the Jury will not be possible at this virtual competition. Instead, in the event that a final
appeal is necessary, it will be to a joint committee of the Jury Chair, the elected members
of the IMO Board and the Ethics Committee.
25. The Medal Boundaries and other awards will be decided by a joint committee of the
Jury Chair, the elected members of the IMO Board and the Ethics Committee. They will
use exactly the same protocols as at a normal IMO. Results will be published immediately
according to normal practice.
26. Medals and Certificates will be posted to Leaders, and it is hoped that, when health
conditions permit, national presentation ceremonies will be arranged.
27. There will be an online closing ceremony on 24 July 2021.
28. Leaders must ensure that all child protection measures which are legally enforced in
their country of origin are correctly observed.
29. Online registration at https://www.imo-official.org implies the consent of the
Participants and Observers in the processing and storage for 1 year at a Host Organization
of their personal data, including surname, name, gender, nationality, date of birth, place of
birth, passport data, address of residence, place of study, work, phone, photos, in the
manner established by the Federal law of the Russian Federation of 27.07.2006 No152-ФЗ
"On personal data". Consent to the processing of personal data can be revoked by sending
a request from the Leader.
30. Online registration at https://www.imo-official.org implies the consent of
Participants and Observers to take photos and videos during any online activities of IMO
2021, with the right of the Host Organization to publish images and videos including
images and videos of Participants and Observers, according to article 152.1 of the Civil
Code of the Russian Federation in the Internet, mass media, reports and other official
documents of the Organizing Committee IMO 2021. Organizers wishing to take photos and
videos at Exam Centres must obtain those permissions which are necessary in their
particular legal jurisdiction.
31. The Host Organization, with the approval of the IMO Board, may vary protocols
concerning the conduct of the virtual IMO 2021 as and when necessary. Some flexibility
may be required to make matters run as smoothly as possible.
32. Separate detailed documents will be published explaining procedures, technical
details and protocols concerning the various aspects of IMO 2021. This will happen on or
before 30 June 2021. These Annual Regulations only provide an outline.
|