Details of what the L&E does, and the publications can be found on the relevant part of the EBU website - use the links to the right. The official minutes from L&E meetings are also published here, along with minutes from all the other EBU bodies. The minutes can take a while to be agreed, so I shall update the blog after each meeting with anything that seems of general interest.
We try to be responsive to the EBU members, if you want to ask any member of the L&E something, there are lots of ways to get in touch:
- Jeremy Dhondy (jeremy2), David Stevenson (bluejak), David Burn (woubit), Mike Amos (mikeamostd) & Frances Hinden (frances) post regularly on the International Bridge Laws Forum, http://forums.bridgetalk.com and are happy to answer questions on the laws or on any rulings in public or private
- the secretary, John Pain, can be contacted by letter, telephone or email at the EBU. He is extremely helpful himself, and can also pass on messages to anyone you want to get in contact with.
For the time being, I thought I'd explain a couple of things that I sometimes get asked, which seem to be common misunderstandings.
Club System and Alerting Regulations
Individual bridge clubs can decide on any regulations they like for what methods can be played, and/or what alerting and announcing regulations to follow. In practice, most clubs tend to use one of the 'Levels' (2, 3 or 4) defined in the Orange Book, and also use the EBU alerting & announcing regs. However, there's no compulsion to do so - certainly there are a few clubs around who write their own regulations. Two examples I am aware of are a club that plays Level 3 but does not allow the Multi, and a club teams league that allows people to play whatever they like, including highly unusual methods such as forcing pass.
We do think it's a good idea to follow the EBU alerting rules, because otherwise it becomes very difficult both for visitors to the club to know what to expect, or for any club members to play elsewhere without getting confused or causing problems for others. Even if you don't like the rules, I promise that life would become much more difficult if you had to follow different rules depending on where you play!
Disciplinary Actions
When it comes to disciplinary cases, the L&E acts somewhat like the crown prosecution service - we decide whether to go ahead with a case, and we will present the case. However, it is the disciplinary panel who decide if the case is proven or not, and who decide on the appropriate punishment. The panel is drawn from a group of volunteers, who have received some special training.
