Preface

At its meetings in Maastricht, September 2000, the WBF Laws Committee gave a detailed scrutiny to the interim report of the Working Party that, upon the initiative of the President, Jose Damiani, had spent the previous year preparing a Code of Laws for Online Bridge. The minutes of those meetings gave advance notice to the member NBOs and the Zones that the project was in hand. Subsequently the interim report was sent to all the major Online Game Providers for their views.

The Working Party presented its final report in Paris, October 2001, where the proposals were agreed by the Laws Committee of the WBF and subsequently adopted by the WBF Executive Council. The publication of this Code of Laws in full is a heavy task, even on the internet, so that an interim 'Key' to the laws is being published as a working document for all interested in the subject. The Committee has agreed that during the early years of its existence this Code of Laws shall be reviewed annually and all Game Providers in particular, and others interested also, are invited to let the Committee have their comments when sufficient time has elapsed for experience to be gained of its effects and associated problems.

Game Providers will note the powers given to them to regulate temporary changes of the provisions where these are necessitated by the limitations of the software. The WBF anticipates that developments in software configuration will eliminate any such requirement in due course.

In conclusion, his colleagues on the Working Party wish to join the Laws Committee and the Executive in expressing great admiration of, and gratitude for, the exceptional efforts of Bill Segraves who collated and compiled all the material untiringly and with immense enthusiasm; he may well regard this composition as his monument.

We are indebted, too, to Anna Gudge who has now taken on the task, also arduous, of presenting the Code to the world at large.

Grattan Endicott.

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