Picture of the World Archery committees taken in Lausanne.
Organisation

Committees

Boards, committees and commissions govern areas of World Archery’s operations.

Officers are elected and appointed to serve on boards, permanent committees, ad hoc committees and commissions with mandates for specific areas of World Archery’s governance and operations.

Term limits are being implemented for all elected officers and will be in full effect from 2023.

The president, vice president and members of the executive board can serve a maximum of three full terms, each lasting four years, in the same position; they must also have a break of at least two years after two terms. Members of other boards and committees can serve a maximum of four full terms in the same position.

Limitations on terms and other electoral rules are detailed in the World Archery Rulebook.

Boards

Boards are established to deal with specialised or sensitive tasks. Officers are elected to boards by congress or appointed by the executive board, executive committee or president.

The Court for Arbitration for Sport’s anti-doping division is responsible for adjudicating alleged anti-doping rule violations in archery to ensure independence in the case management process. This includes issuing any relevant sanctions.

The former three-member World Archery anti-doping panel ceased to exist after the agreement was signed with the Court for Arbitration for Sport in 2019.

World Archery’s board of justice and ethics is elected by congress to ensure that every person and body associated with the federation, including individuals, member associations and officials, abide by the Rulebook and its Code of Ethics and Conduct.

(This does not include anti-doping violations, which fall under the responsibility of the anti-doping division.)

Members of the executive board and presidents of World Archery’s member associations cannot be elected to the board of justice and ethics. Each member of the board is taken from a different member association, no member of the board may participate in a case that concerns their own member association and the board elects one of its own members as chair.

Cases may be put to the board of justice and ethics by World Archery’s president, executive board, executive committee, member association or continental association. Judges and juries of appeal may also put forward cases relevant to tournaments falling under their jurisdiction. Any and all available material is considered by the board to ensure a fair hearing for all parties. The board may request witness statements, documentary evidence of any other evidence that may help adjudicate a case.

The outcome of cases may result in the board proposing sanctions to the executive board via the secretary general or, in the case of an elected officer, to congress for ratification.

Very few cases have ever been referred to World Archery’s board of justice and ethics thanks to the high level of conduct displayed by people involved in the sport of archery.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

World Archery’s finance and audit board reviews the federation’s finances. Board members have a financial qualification or relevant accounting or financial experience in the five years prior to their appointment by the World Archery executive board. World Archery’s president appoints the chair of the board.

Members of the finance and audit board review financial information necessary for congress, executive board and executive committee meetings; income and expenditure accounts; quarterly management accounts and the annual budget. The board addresses other financial matters and brings items to the executive board when appropriate.

Members

Office liaison: Caroline Murat

The electoral board was introduced at the 2019 World Archery Congress in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The role of the board is to evaluate candidatures for elected officers.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

Permanent committees

Congress elects officers to permanent committees, and the chair and deputy chair of each committee is appointed by World Archery’s president. Officers are elected for a four-year term. If an officer is unable to complete their elected term, the executive committee can appoint a replacement.

Permanent committees contribute to operations relevant to their area of focus, interpret questions on the rules submitted by member associations or the executive board and propose changes to rules or activities to the executive board.

This committee represents the voice of international athletes. Members must be active when they run for office and are elected by archers; four at the World Archery Championships, one for each of the competition categories, and one at the World Archery Field Championships.

The committee contributes the athlete perspective to discussions on rules and activities, acts as the point of contact for archers worldwide and promotes education or other opportunities for athletes. The chairperson of the athletes committee sits on the executive board.

Members

Office liaison: Jenny Pillonel

This committee represents the voice of international coaches in discussions on rules and activities, acts as the point of contact for coaches worldwide and promotes education or other opportunities for coaches.

Members

Office liaison: Thomas Aubert

This committee manages the official World Archery Rulebook, which contains the federation’s constitution. Members are responsible for reviewing and finalising rule changes following congress and executive board meetings, as well as clarifying the wording of rules and correcting mistakes or omissions. The committee reviews interpretations and often refers them to other committees for input, verifying that alterations are correctly formatted and consisted with other decisions, and submits motions to improve the Rulebook to the board and congress.

Members

Office liaison: Constance Terrier

This committee is responsible for the disciplines of field archery and 3D archery, including the organisation of world championships and the field archery competition at the World Games. Since 2008, technical delegates for these events have been appointed from the committee. Members are tasked with promoting the disciplines to countries that do not regularly participate in field and 3D archery events.

Members

Office liaison: Thomas Aubert

This committee represents the voice of international judges in discussions on rules and activities, manages the education and accreditation of international judges and appoints judges to international events. The committee issues regular newsletters and often publishes resources for judges.

Members

Office liaison: Séverine Deriaz

This committee is responsible for medical and anti-doping matters. At least three of its members, including the chair, must be medical doctors. Members work to safeguard athlete health, work on injury prevention and competition advice, promote the health benefits of the sport and support scientific studies on archery.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

This committee is responsible for the discipline of para archery. Its members include the chair of the classification committee (appointed) and an athlete representative (elected by athletes) as well as those elected at congress.

Members of the para archery committee support the organisation of the World Archery Para Championships, promote the discipline in nations with limited para programmes, manage the classification system and rules around assistive devices with the classification committee, and work closely with the judges committee on the consistent application of the rules for para archery.

One member of the para archery committee represents World Archery to the International Paralympic Committee.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

This committee is responsible for the disciplines of target archery and indoor archery.

Members support the organisation of the World Archery Championships, research and evaluate improvements to the rules – including target field layouts, scoring and timing procedures, tournament operations and equipment – and searches for ways to make competition more engaging to media and spectators.

Members

Office liaison: Thomas Aubert

This committee is responsible for the regulations on athlete equipment and is the oldest committee in World Archery’s governance structure.

Members inspect new technologies and designs to determine whether or not a new piece of equipment complies with the World Archery Rulebook, or if changes to the rules are necessary.

Members

Office liaison: Constance Terrier

Ad hoc committees

The executive board creates ad hoc committees to fulfil specific tasks, duties or manage new initiatives when appropriate. The chair and deputy chair of each committee is appointed by World Archery’s president.

This committee is responsible for pursuing archery’s inclusion in the programme of the Commonwealth Games, promoting archery within the Commonwealth and facilitating the sharing of information, expertise and resources between Commonwealth nations.

Members

Office liaison: TBC

World Archery has a longstanding commitment to gender equity, having been the first international federation to elect a female president. Archery was also one of the first Olympic sports to have female competition and, later on, gender balance in its quota places at the Olympic Games. This committee is responsible for protecting and championing gender equity at all levels of the organisation.

Members

Office liaison: Caroline Murat

This committee is responsible for regulating the classification of para athletes according to the International Paralympic Committee’s Code of Classification. Its members manage the training, education and accreditation of international classifiers. The committee coordinates revisions to the classification system with the para archery committee, supports research programmes on impairments and archery, and manages the master list of classified athletes.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

This committee is responsible for reviewing the salary and benefits of members of staff.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen

This committee is responsible for World Archery’s sustainability policy and encourages member associations, officials and organisers to act in line with the United Nations’ guidance for sports to contribute towards ending climate change. There is significant focus on event practices, with members representing upcoming world championships.

Members

Office liaison: Tom Dielen