Photo caption from left to right: Martin De Graaff (FIM Europe President), Jorge Viegas (FIM President), Tony Skillington (FIM Chief Executive Officer), Jos Driessen (FIM Board Member), Jacques Bolle (FIM Vice-President), Giovanni Copioli (FIM Board Member).
Video conference: Ignacio Verneda (FIM Deputy President), Glen Williams (FIM Oceania President), Stephan Carapiet (FIM Asia President), Marco Comana (FIM Africa President), Rob Dingman (FIM North America President & CONUs representative), Pedro Venturo Jr (FIM Latin America President), Jorgen Bitsch (FIM Board Member), Jan Stovicek (FIM Board Member), Peter Doyle (FIM Australia).
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The FIM Board of Directors met face-to-face and via videoconference on 9 September 2020. While most of European Board Members were able to travel to the FIM Headquarters in Switzerland, overseas Members attended via Zoom as a consequence of the sanitary protection measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this third 2020 meeting, the Board addressed many topics, in particular the following:
COVID-19 pandemic: The FIM expressed its thoughts to all FIM Family Members impacted by the COVID-19. After an almost complete lockdown period due to the pandemic, most of the World Championship/Cup events as well as Touring events were able to resume while applying strict sanitary measures. The Board was grateful to all officials, volunteers, national federations, organisers, riders, promoters and all other FIM stakeholders for their commitment, hard work and support to restart motorcycling events.
Sport: All sporting disciplines were discussed with a focus mainly on the FIM Enduro and Trial World Championships, E-bike as well as the Hard Enduro and Dakar. By the end of the year, the FIM would launch a tender for the promotion of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship starting in 2022; the FIM would act as a promoter for the 2021 season. The FIM would also continue to act as a promoter for the FIM TrialGP World Championship in 2021. The expansion of the E-bikes market lead to new opportunities and classes for the FIM E-bike events. The Hard Enduro discipline was discussed with the aim of bringing this discipline under the FIM umbrella. Despite exhaustive and ongoing discussions between the FIM, the FIA and ASO, no agreement was reached with ASO as regards the Dakar at this stage. It was decided that the Solidarity Fund for the TrialGP would not be invoiced to the organisers as no non-European events would take place in 2020. A tender for the promotion of X-Trial would be launched by the end of the year.
Insurance: The Board approved that the FIM travel insurance programme would cover CONU officials (except for FIM Europe) as of 2021. The costs of this extension would be borne by the FIM.
International Foundation for Motorcycling (IFM): The Board approved the IFM revised statutes following the review conducted by the Swiss foundations supervisory authority. The IFM would be officially created in 2021. In line with the aim of the IFM, it was decided that a contribution of EUR 5,000 would be made to renovate the Château de Villaumaire (France), which used to be the property and place of residence of the Marquis Mouzilly-Saint Mars, 2nd FIM President. The newly created memorabilia exhibition regrouping the FIM historical legacy, located in the basement of the FIM HQ, was inaugurated and presented to the Board Members present.
Finance: The extraordinary situation impacted the 2020 forecast, however thanks to significant efforts and substantial savings, a breakeven result was expected. The Board extended the mandate of the external auditors (PwC) for one year.
FIM Family Week: The Board decided to organise the FIM Family Week, regrouping the 2020 FIM and CONUs Board meetings and General Assemblies, the FIM Awards as well as the 2021 Commissions Conference, in one venue at the end of January 2021 in Divonne-les-Bains, France. The Board agreed to extend the term of office of elective mandates terminating in 2020 until the next GA.
National Federations: It was decided that the candidatures for affiliation of Mozambique and Iraq would be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.
Commissions: The following adjustments as regards the composition of the Commissions were agreed by the Board:
• CCR – Member, Mr Martin HEJDUK, Serbia (AMSS)
• CCR – Member, Mr Neethiananthan R. K. SHUNMUGAM, Macau (AAMC)
• CCR – Expert, Mr Gerry BRYCE
The Board also ratified the withdrawal of Mr Kevin CROWTHER (AMA) from the CMS.
In addition, the CONU Presidents reported to the Board on the latest developments on their continents.
The Board Committees and the different departments of the Administration presented the progress of their ongoing projects.
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