The purpose of these regulations is to create uniformity in the definition of bids and acceptability of conventions throughout the bodies under the jurisdiction of the South African Bridge Federation and at tournaments run by such bodies.

These regulations are promulgated under the authority awarded to Sponsoring Organisations in terms of Law 80F of the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge.

During any tournament, these regulations shall be applied by the Tournament Director and, in appeals being considered, by an Appeals Committee. In the event of disagreement concerning an interpretation of these regulations, the case may be referred to the Executive of the S.A.B.F. for interpretation. The Executive will provide such an interpretation, using expert advice, but only for future use but not retrospectively.

These regulations will be known as the Conventions Control Regulations.

The Executive of the S.A.B.F. will be the sole interpreter of these regulations.

In the event of a dispute about an interpretation of any part of these regulations, the Executive will refer the dispute to individuals and organisations, both local and overseas, for clarification leading to an acceptable interpretation.

DEFINITIONS

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High card points (HCP)

Calculated on the basis of:

        Ace   = 4 points
        King  = 3 points
        Queen = 2 points
        Jack  = 1 point

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Rule of 18   The agreed minimum value of the hand is that the number of cards in the two longest suits together, when added to the number of High Card Points (HCP) in the hand, will total not less than 18.

Similarly Rule of 12, 19, 22, 23, etc.

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For the purposes of defining natural and conventional calls the following terms are defined as follows :-

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Both members of a pair are required to play an identical system.

Players are required to exchange the following information before commencement of bidding :

The onus is upon both pairs to volunteer this information before the start of play, however if players do not obtain this obtain this information before the start of play and make subsequent enquiries during the bidding or play, then any bid or play based upon information that COULD have been given by partner's enquiry may be ruled as unauthorised information.

Identical convention cards containing partnership understandings must be provided by each member of a pair and be available on the table at all times, for use by the opponents, Opponents are expected to avail themselves of the information provided by the convention cards.

For club purposes, a simple convention card containing the above basic information will be considered sufficient. Any further information must be provided by means of the alert system. For higher level events, more detailed convention cards may be required.

In the event of a dispute about the meaning of a call, the lack of an adequate convention card will usually result in the Tournament Director ruling on the basis of misinformation.

RULE OF CO-INCIDENCE

Where co-incidental actions by both members of a pair are contrary to their system and where such actions result in a fortuitous result for that pair, it will be deemed that at least one member of the pair COULD have known that one or more of the calls was non-systemic. In the event of a request for an adjusted score by the opponents, the Director will rule in favour of the non-offending pair and advise the other pair to appeal.

ACCEPTABLE BIDS AND CONVENTIONS

OPENING BIDS.

Any NATURAL opening bid that conforms to the above definitions is allowed however, if there is any additional information contained in the bid that might not be known to the opponents, the bid is ALERTABLE and all such information must be given by the partner of the bidder, but only on a legal request from an opponent, Failure to alert or failure to give a complete and correct explanation of the partnership agreement will be deemed to be misinformation in the event of a dispute.

The following CONVENTIONAL bids are acceptable at all levels of duplicate events, provided that individual clubs may restrict the use of these conventional bids at their own club, however such restrictions may lead to these events not being eligible for master points. All conventional bids are alertable, other than Standard Stayman as defined, Ace-asking bids above the 3NT level and cue-bids after suit agreement. The last two conventional sequence must however, be alerted at the end of the auction and explained on request, if the bidders are declarer and dummy, but only after the end of the hand if they are defenders.

ONE LEVEL BIDS

1C : May be ONE of the following :

1. ARTIFICIAL forcing opening indicating a minimum of 15HCP.
2. A negative 1D response may be used;
3. An all-purpose bid when 1D is an artificial forcing opening bid;
4. ARTIFICIAL forcing bid where the minimum point count and point range are specified;
5. PREPARED opening bid in 4 card major systems.

1D : May be ONE of the following :

1. An all-purpose bid when played in conjuction with an artificial 1C opening bid;
2. ARTIFICIAL forcing opening indicating a minimum of 15HCP. A negative 1H response may be used;
3. PREPARED opening in a 5 card major system.

TWO LEVEL OPENING BIDS

OPENING suit bids at the 2 level or higher may indicate ONE of the following :

1. a weak single-suited hand with a minimum of 5 cards in the suit, the minimum point count and range must be specified;
2. A two-suiter where at least one of the suits is designated, the minimum point count and range must be specified;
3. a three-suited hand where at least one of the suits is designated;
4. a hand containing at least 16HCP;
5. a hand that guarantees 8 playing tricks, if played in that suit.

OPENING No-trump bid at the two level or higher indicating a two-suiter with at least one suit specified.

2C : ARTIFICIAL opening bid indicating ONE of the following :

1. 16 or more HCP or 8 or more playing tricks, balanced or unbalanced, forcing for at least one round, suit need not be specified;
2. 16 or more HCP or 8 or more playing tricks, balanced or unbalanced, game-force, suit need not be specified;
3. Two-suiter, one of which is clubs;
4. A three-suiter, specified shortage.

2D : ARTIFICIAL opening bid indication ONE OR MORE of the following :

1. 16 or more HCP or 8 or more playing tricks, balanced or unbalanced, forcing for at least one round, suit need not be specified;
2. 16 or more HCP or 8 or more playing tricks, balanced or unbalanced, game-force, suit need not be specified;
3. A three-suiter, minimum point count and range to be specified;
4. Both majors, minimum point count and range to be specified;
5. A 5-card major, the minimum point count and range must be specified;
6. As in a) above, but with Diamonds as the suit denomination.

THREE LEVEL OR HIGHER OPENING BIDS

A CONVENTIONAL opening bid of three of a suit may be ONE of the following :

1. A transfer pre-empt;
2. A two-suiter where at least one of the suits is designated.

OPENING 3NT bid indicating ONE of the following :

1. An unspecified solid minor without high cards outside;
2. An unspecified solid minor plus high cards outside;
3. A long, broken minor.

OPENING bid of four of a suit transferring to a specified known suit.

RESPONSES AND RAISES

Any NATURAL responses and raises may be used, provided that any implicit partnership agreement is alerted and a correct explanation given on request.

Any CONSTRUCTIVE CONVENTIONAL responses or raises may be used and are alertable, other than Standard Blackwood and Standard Stayman, as defined. Full disclosure must be given on request and an incomplete explanation will be deemed to be misinformation.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AUCTION

Any allowable method may be used, subject to alerts and full disclosure, of any call which may not be entirely natural.

COMPETITIVE AUCTIONS

Any allowable method of competitive auction may be used, subject to the following requirements which are alertable :

Partnership agreement that overcalls may be made on a four card suit must be specified at the start of the round.

Two-suited overcalls :

Doubles and redoubles below the level of 3 Spades, intended for takeout (eg. Negative, co-operative, responsive, etc.), are not alertable. Penalty doubles and redoubles below the level of 3NT at alertable. Doubles and redoubles at the 3 Spade level or higher are considered to be for penalty and not alertable. Other doubles and redoubles at this level are alertable.

Conventional balancing calls.

Any other conventional competetive call that does not conflict with the specific requirements set out above.

The following bids or methods are disallowed and are subject to adjusted scores and/or penalties :

1. Conventions and/or agreements whose primary purpose is to destroy opponents methods;
2. Highly Unusual Methods (HUM) and Brown Sticker systems, as defined by the World Bridge Federation, except where specifically allowed in Category A events, see page 12;
3. Psyching of artificial opening bids and conventional responses to artificial opening bids or any agreement about psyching;
4. Relay systems. This does not affect the use of a relay bid sequence as enquiry bids in specific situations;
5. Controlled psyches;
6. Systemic psyches;
7. Systemic variations;
8. Opening one level bids which show values less than the Rule of 18 by partnership agreement. This prohibition does not preclude the use of a psyche which conforms to Law 40 of the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge, (whatever version is current). Use of similar psyches more than once a session or more than one session of an event, will lead to the type of call being deemed a partnership agreement and subject to be disallowed under this section;
9. Partnership agreements that any call may be a random call or may have a random meaning.
10. Tournament Directors and Appeals Committees are specifically empowered to prevent players from using conventional calls and sequences that those players frequently misbid or explain incorrectly, until they satisfy directors that they have rectified the errors and have been given permission to use the conventional sequence again. Use of a conventional sequence by a pair who have been prevented from using the sequence will be subject to an automatic disciplinary penalty and possible score adjustment, Repeated violations of such a ban will be grounds for a Disciplinary Committee hearing.

LEADS, SIGNALS AND DISCARDS

Any method of leads, signals and discards, except those specified below, may be used provided that FULL disclosure has been made prior to commencement of play. Failure to supply or obtain this information may lead to the award of an adjusted score and/or disciplinary penalties.

Leads, signals and discarding methods must NOT be alerted during play.

The following carding methods are specifically disallowed :

Encrypted Signals;

Random carding.

CATEGORIES OF EVENTS

Category A events.

1. Quarter-final, semi-final and finals of teams events at regional and national level, where not less than 28 boards are played per session, or any event specifically designated as a CATEGORY A event by the Executive of the S.A.B.F. Any OTHER event is a CATEGORY B event.
2. The sponsoring organisation (S.O.) is the S.A.B.F. in respect of national events and the provincial union in respect of regional events within the jurisdiction of the particular region. The S.A.B.F. does have the power to over-rule a provincial union in respect of Category A events.
3. The following variations of normal restrictions are allowed to be used in Category A events, subject to full disclosure when required:
4. Opening bids of one of a major need not have a minimum of four cards in the suit;
5. Opening two-level bids need not conform to the conventional definitions of these regulations;
6. Opening bids at the 3 level, or higher, need not specify at least one suit;
7. Conventional responses to opening bids need not conform to the definitions contained in these regulations.
8. Any non-destructive methods or treatments may be used, with full disclosure in advance with the prior approval of the S.O.
9. The S.O. will determine how much prior notice must be supplied to prospective opponents before use of such methods may be employed in Category A events and any specific conditions for the use of such methods. The S.O. will also determine whether such methods constitute Highly Unusual Methods, in which case the restrictions of the following paragraph apply.
10. Highly Unusual Methods may not be used, except with the consent of the S.O. and then only in accordance with the regulations laid down by the World Bridge Federation for the use of such methods.
11. The use of systems variations and relay systems is permitted, subject to prior notice requirements, as stated above, and full disclosure when required.

Encrypted Signals and Random Carding are specifically disallowed.

INTERPRETATIONS

MANAGEMENT BOARD OF THE S.A.B.F. INTERPRETATIONS - MAY 1999

It has come to the notice of the Management Board of the S.A.B.F. that certain sections of the Conventions Control Regulations (CCR) are being deliberately ignored or circumvented. The CCR are promulgated in terms of the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge and have the full force of the Laws. The Management Board of the S.A.B.F. is the sole interpreter of these regulations and the following interpretations have been formulated and become effective immediately.

The CCR have been in force for several years but many players who are aware of them have chosen to ignore them. Individual clubs are not obliged to enforce these regulations at their own club events, but should the S.A.B.F. receive complaints about bidding or play situations that are contrary to these regulations, the S.A.B.F. is entitled to refuse to award master points to such club events.

Provincial and National events, however, must be played in accordance with the CCR and Tournament Directors at such events are hereby instructed to impose disciplinary penalties of a quarter top, in pairs events, or one Victory Point, in teams events, for all instances of failure to comply with the regulations. These penalties must be applied irrespective of the result, even if the hand results in no damage or the offending side earns a bad score. The penalties are a separate issue to any ruling that a Director may make on the hand in question. Repeated violations are subject to increased penalties.

Disciplinary penalties are not subject to appeal. They cannot be rescinded except by the Director who issued them and the instruction of the Management Board of the S.A.B.F. is that they shall not be rescinded. The only discretion allowed a Director is that, in the case of a player who could have been unaware of such regulations (a new player or a player visiting South Africa), a warning may be issued and the player told to familiarise themselves with the regulations as soon as possible.

Sponsoring Organisations, e.g. individual clubs, Provincial Unions and the S.A.B.F., have unlimited powers to deem conventional methods as unusual and to control conventions in terms of Law 40D. This interpretation of the Laws was confirmed at a meeting of the World Bridge Federation Laws Committee in Lille in 1998.

The Tournament Director is the representative of the sponsoring organisation which hosts an event and can utilise disciplinary powers to enforce compliance with any regulations in force at that event, provided that they are not in conflict with the Laws, the CCR or the regulations of the sponsoring organisation.

For the purposes of definition and description the following regulations will now apply :

NORMAL OPENING BID.

The range shall be from a minimum which conforms to the Rule of 18, up to a maximum of 15HCP. This does not preclude the use of a normal opening bid with a stronger hand which is subsequently redefined on the rebid.

STRONG OPENING BID.

The minimum High Card Point range shall be from 16HCP upwards or a hand that would conform with the Rule of 24.

These ranges are subject to a variance of a point or so either way depending upon the texture of the hand in the context or normal bridge situations.

A natural No Trump opening bid shall not have a High Card Point range of more than four points.

Except where specific definitions are stipulated in the CCR the following interpretations will apply.

Where the CCR do not specify a range but where the CCR stipulate that a range must be specified, such range shall not exceed 6 High Card Points. A range described as "weak' or "strong" must conform with the following descriptions:

1. Where a bid is described as "weak", it shall be weaker than the one described above as a Normal Opening Bid;
2. Where a bid is described as "strong" it shall exceed the one described above as a Normal Opening Bid.

Where a bid is made and the range described as "weak" or as "strong", it may be used as either, but not both, except where a bid, used as an overcall may be weak or VERY strong (22+ High Card Points), or conform to the Rule of 28, such as a strong Michaels Cue-bid.

Where the requirements of the CCR stipulate that a two-suited bid must designate a suit, at least one suit must be specifically designated. Any other agreement, such as either major or either minor, is not legal in terms of the regulations.

Where the CCR only allows for the choice of one type of bid from a list of possible hand type, only one such choice is permitted, other than where the bid varies depending upon vulnerability or position. In the latter case the opponents must be given a full description of the differences of the meaning of the bid and the circumstances in which they apply. The S.A.B.F. reserves the right to limit such variations to a maximum of two.