CCM TF Announcement 18/08/2017

The Presidential Task Force to Combat Competition Manipulation (CCM TF) has held several meetings over three days during and after the German Open Championships 2017 in Stuttgart.

In their final meeting held on Sunday 13 August, the CCM TF members have decided to implement major changes to two important aspects in the transparent and fair adjudication of WDSF DanceSport. These changes are described below. 

Nomination of Adjudicators’ Panels

The CCM TF members are aware of the problems persisting in the process of nominating adjudicators to the panels of the top-level competitions held under the auspices of WDSF. To counteract them, they have decided to change the procedure which is currently in place. From today, 18 August 2017, the CCM TF members, in coordination with the Sports Director, will suggest the composition of the panels for World Championships, Continental Championships, GrandSlam and Super GrandPrix events to the Managing Committee (MC). The MC members  will then formally approve each panel. What amounts to a system of checks and balances aims to further ensure the integrity of the nomination process. 

Debriefing Session

The CCM TF members will define the procedure and establish the parameters for a debriefing session to be held immediately following a top-level competition adjudicated with the Absolute Judging System. During such a debriefing session – whose attendance will be mandatory for all adjudicators making up the panel – the focus is kept on the scores which are awarded by each adjudicator individually throughout the competition. Each adjudicator is expected to argue the validity of assessing the performances as is reflected in his or her scores. The debriefing process is public in as far as that the arguments brought forward by the adjudicators in justification of their scores will be made available online.

Some time will be required to put this process of debriefing adjudicators in place and the sessions will first be implemented at World Championships (incl. PD) only. The pilot session is tentatively scheduled after the 2017 World Latin in Vienna, AUT, in the morning of 19 November.