Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Abbreviation FIA
Formation 20 June 1904 (as the AIACR)
Type Sports federation
Legal status Voluntary association
Purpose/focus Motorists' issues
Motorsports
Headquarters France Place de la Concorde
Location Paris, France
Region served International
Membership 222 member organisations worldwide
Official languages English
French
President France Jean Todt
Main organ General Assembly
Affiliations FIA Institute
FIA Foundation
World Health Organization
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
World Tourism Organization
UN Environment Programme
Website www.fia.com

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, commonly referred to as the FIA, is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. To the general public, the FIA is mostly known as the governing body for many auto racing events.

Headquartered at 8, Place de la Concorde, Paris, the FIA consists of 213 national member organisations in 125 countries worldwide.[1] Its current president is Jean Todt.

As is the case with football's FIFA, the FIA is generally known by its French name and acronym, even in non French-speaking countries, but is occasionally rendered as International Automobile Federation.

Its most prominent role is in the licencing and arbitration of Formula One motor racing. The FIA along with the FIM also certify land speed record attempts.

Contents

History

The Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) was founded in Paris on 20 June 1904.

In 1922, the FIA delegated the organisation of automobile racing to the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI), an autonomous committee that later became the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA). A restructuring of the FIA in 1993 led to the disappearance of the FISA, putting motor racing under direct management of the FIA.

Event history

In 1946 the true history of Formula One began with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA's) standardisation of rules.

In 1950, the FIA organised the first World Championship for Drivers, known today as the Formula One World Championship for Drivers.

In 1953, the FIA created the World Sportscar Championship, the first points series for sports car racing in the world. This championship, under various names, was solely for manufacturers up to and including 1980. From 1981, a Drivers' Championship title was also awarded and from 1985 the manufacturers' title was replaced by a Teams Championship. The last World Sportscar Championship titles were awarded in 1992.

In 1973, the FIA organised the first World Rally Championship. The 42nd Auto Rally of Monte-Carlo became the first ever FIA World Rally Championship event.

In 1987, the FIA sanctioned the first World Touring Car Championship. Initially a one-off series, the title was revived in 2005.

In 1993, the National Hot Rod Association was officially recognised by the FIA World Motorsports Council and the FIA Drag Racing Commission was formed. FISA was dissolved, and its activities placed directly under the FIA.

Organisational structure

The FIA General Assembly is The Federation's supreme governing body, consisting of the presidents of the FIA's numerous member clubs.

The head of the FIA and chairman of the General Assembly is the President. The President is elected to a four-year term by the FIA General Assembly, and from October 2005 onward will not be permitted to serve more than two terms. The previous President, who took office in 1993 and began his fourth term in 2005, is Max Mosley. Mosley did not stand for re-election in October 2009, with Jean Todt being elected president.[2]

The 10-member FIA Senate consists the President of the Senate; the current and previous Presidents of the FIA; the Deputy President for the FIA Mobility and the Automobile group; the Deputy President for FIA Sport group; and five further members elected by the General Assembly. From FIA Statue #17: "The Senate takes the decisions required by the management of the FIA when circumstances do not permit a meeting of the Committee or of the World Councils, especially in cases of emergency; decisions thus taken must be confirmed during the next meeting of the Committee or of the relevant World Council."

The Senate also makes accounting and budget decisions, preparing draft budgets for the World Councils. The Senate forms sub-Committees on subjects such as Commercial Promotions, in order to make recommendations and review proposals.

The FIA World Council for Mobility and the Automobile governs all non-sporting FIA activities, and is headed by the Deputy President for Mobility and the Automobile.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council governs all the sporting events regulated by the FIA. It is also responsible for the promotion of safety in worldwide motorsport, the encouragement of standardized regulations, and the promotion of motorsport in new markets, including developing countries. The council consists of the FIA President, and Deputy President, seven FIA vice-presidents, and 17 other members. The seventeen others must represent a national sporting authority for at least one international event.

The FIA International Court of Appeal is the final appeal tribunal for international motor sport. It resolves disputes brought before it by any of motorsport’s National Sporting Authorities worldwide, or by the President of the FIA. It can also settle non-sporting disputes brought by national motoring organizations affiliated to the FIA.

Other organisations and posts include the Mobility and Automobile commissions, sporting commissions, the FIA Deputy President for Sport, and the FIA Secretariat.

Presidents

President Years as president
France Jehan de Rohan-Chabot 1946–1958
France Hadelin de Liedekerke Beaufort 1958–1963
Italy Filippo Caracciolo di Castagneto 1963–1965
United Kingdom Wilfrid Andrews 1965–1971
Belgium Amaury de Merode 1971–1975
Germany Paul Metternich 1975–1985
France Jean-Marie Balestre 1985–1993
United Kingdom Max Mosley 1993–2009
France Jean Todt 2009-present

[3]

Current Deputy Presidents

Deputy President
United Kingdom Graham Stoker
New Zealand Brian Gibbons

Current Vice Presidents

Vice Presidents
Portugal Carlos Barbosa
Italy Franco Lucchesi
Slovenia Danijel Starman
Philippines Gus Lagman
Mexico Ignacio Gonzalez Fausto
Paraguay Victor Dumot Martinez
Argentina Jorge Rosales
Mexico Jose Abed
Monaco Michel Boeri
New Zealand Morrie Chandler
Italy Enrico Gelpi
Spain Carlos Gracia Fuertes
United Arab Emirates Mohammed Ben Sulayem
Tanzania Surinder Thatthi

Current Committee Members

Committee Members
Germany Peter Meyer
Sweden Maria Spetz
Germany Stefanie Gork
Spain Sebastiá Salvadó
Sweden Lars Österlind
Austria Werner Kraus
Switzerland Niklaus Lundsgaard Hansen
Netherlands Guido van Woerkom
Belgium Thierry Willemarck
Australia Mike Harris
New Zealand Geoff Lange
Japan Setsuo Tanaka
Singapore Bernard Tay
United States Robert Darbelnet
Jamaica Earl Jarrett
Canada Tim Shearman
Peru Iván Dibós
Australia Garry Connelly
Greece Vassilis Despotopoulos
Portugal Luis Pinto de Freitas
Croatia Zrinko Gregurek
People's Republic of China Wan Heping
Soviet Union Victor Kiryanov
Paraguay Hugo Mersan
Czech Republic Radovan Novak
Venezuela Vicenzo Spano
Singapore Teng Lip Tan

[4]

Criticism

In June 1999, the EU commission opened an investigation in to the FIA over anti-competitive behaviour in the protection of FIA sanctioned series. A settlement was reached in June 2001[5]

Martin Brundle wrote a column in the Sunday Times entitled "Witch-hunt threatens to spoil world title race" in this he accused the FIA of a witch-hunt against McLaren. The World Motor Sport Council has responded by issuing a writ against the Sunday Times on charges of libel.[6] Brundle hit back saying that "I have earned the right to have an opinion" and suggesting the writ was a "warning sign to other journalists".[7] The 2007 Formula One espionage controversy involved accusations of theft made against McLaren, who was accused of stealing technological secrets from Ferrari.

In 2008, accusations surfaced that FIA President Max Mosley was involved in scandalous sexual behavior. Following a June, 2008 decision of the FIA to retain Max Mosley as president, the German branch of the FIA, the ADAC (the largest European motoring body), announced, "We view with regret and incredulity the FIA general assembly's decision in Paris, confirming Max Mosley in office as FIA president." It froze all its activities with the FIA until Max Mosley leaves office.[8] Press reports also claimed that Bernie Ecclestone was investigating creating a rival to the Formula 1 series due to the scandal.

On 24 June 2009, following a dispute between the FIA and the newly-created Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), the parties finally came to an agreement over the future of F1, part of which is that Max Mosley stepped down as FIA President in October 2009 and will not stand for re-election. A new Concorde Agreement was subsequently signed on 31 July.[9]

See also

References

  1. "FIA Homepage - FIA Member Clubs". Fia.com. http://www.fia.com/en-GB/the-fia/member-clubs/. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  2. "F1 resolution found, says Mosley". BBC News. 2009-06-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8116756.stm. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  3. "FIA President - Jean Todt". Fia.com. http://www.fia.com/public/fia_structure/pres_todt.html. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  4. "Federation Internationale de l'Automobile". Fia.com. http://www.fia.com. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  5. "52001XC0613(01) Notice published pursuant to Article 19(3) of Council Regulation No 17 concerning Cases COMP/35.163—Notification of FIA Regulations, COMP/36.638—Notification by FIA/FOA of agreements relating to the FIA Formula One World Championship, COMP/36.776—GTR/FIA ' other". Eur-lex.europa.eu. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52001XC0613(01):EN:HTML. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  6. "WMSC charges Sunday Times with libel". Planet-f1.com. http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2956296,00.html. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  7. "Brundle hits back at FIA". Planet-f1.com. http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_2956314,00.html. Retrieved 2010-08-28. 
  8. "Mosley stays on as FIA president". BBC News. 3 June 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7430939.stm. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
  9. Beer, Matt (1 Aug. 2009). "New Concorde Agreement finally signed". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77481. Retrieved 2 Aug. 2009. 

External links