Current WBC Constitution this link. [Mod Edit: Current Constitution, January 2017]
Or behind this spoiler:
WBC Constitution, December 2013
(previously amended April 2012)
(previously amended April 2012)
Article I: Council Eligibility
Section 1: To be an eligible member of the Council, a nation must have participated (meaning post a roster and at least ONE RP) in the previous 2 Classics and be approved by a simple majority vote of the current Council. (ie: if there are currently 10 or 11 voting members are on the council, then 6 members would have to approve, etc.) This is to limit the number of members of the Council to the truly active participants.
Section 2: To maintain membership, a nation must fulfill at least one of the following criteria:
Clause a. Hosting (or Co-hosting) a Classic, (if possible), within the next 3 Classics.
Clause b. Participate (meaning post a roster and at least ONE RP) in the subsequent Classic.
Section 3: If a Member of the Council fails to maintain its membership (by failure to fulfill any of the above criteria), it shall have 1 Classic to retain membership (by fulfilling any of the above criteria). If the Member does not do so, then it shall not be eligible for membership on the Council for a minimum of one Classic.
Section 4: Any previous hosts of the Classic within the last three WBCs are also eligible, pending a simple majority vote of the current Council.
Article II: Rights and Responsibilities of the Council
Section 1: The Council shall be the voters for the next Host of the Classic and shall choose from the available bids.
Section 2: The Council shall be the determining body for changes, (ie: repealing, amending or introduction of new rules), to the WBC Constitution. A two-thirds majority shall be needed to amend or repeal any part of the WBC Constitution, but a simple majority vote shall be sufficient for introduction of new rules to the Constitution.
Section 3: Any member of the Council can withdraw from the Council without prejudice, but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement.
Section 4: Council members may "go on vacation" (ie: take a NS break) for a maximum of two Classics; but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement if they are gone for more than two consecutive Classics.
Section 5: The Council is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Classic and for advertising of the same.
Section 6: The Council shall be held to any subsequent rights and/or responsibilities that are created henceforth into the WBC Constitution.
Article III: President of the Council
Section 1: The Council will be headed by a president who will be elected by the members of the council, using the same election procedures as outlined in Article VI.
Section 2: The president will be elected after every third World Baseball Classic, and will serve terms of three Classics. No one may serve as president for two consecutive terms.
Section 3: The president's duties are the following: opening the sign-up thread; opening and collecting host voting; opening and collecting constitutional proposal voting; keeping the council list updated; opening and collecting council member election voting; and making any other arbitrary decisions which are not fit to be decided by the council as a whole.
Section 4: The president must appoint a vice-president to serve in his/her absence. If the president goes missing for an extended period of time, or ceases to exist, the vice-president has the right to step up and serve as the president pro tempore.
Section 5: The president may be impeached under the procedures of Article IV. If the president is impeached and removed from the council, the vice-president becomes the new president.
Article IV: Impeachment Procedures
Section 1: In order to initiate impeachment and/or removal from office proceedings against a current member of the World Baseball Classic Council, another member in good standing must motion for impeachment. If a different member seconds the motion, the member is considered impeached.
Section 2: In the event that a Council member is impeached, the full Council shall have one RL week to discuss whether or not to remove the impeached member. During that period, the impeached member is still considered a full voting member of the Council on any items other than those involving the impeachment proceedings.
Section 3: The council president shall initiate the removal vote, which shall only take place in the event two thirds of votes cast are in favour of removal from office. If the president is the one being impeached, the vice-president shall serve the same role as the president for the purposes of this section.
Section 4: In the event that two third of votes cast are in favour of removal from office, the Council member shall be removed from the Council with immediate effect for a period of two World Baseball Classics. At the end of the two World Baseball Classic period, the member may petition to rejoin the Council and initiate a plan to address any concerns outlined in the impeachment proceedings.
Section 5: Any Council member removed due to impeachment proceedings must be nominated to rejoin the Council and must be formally seconded. If that occurs, the Council may vote on readmission when votes for new Council members are being taken. If a simple majority of votes cast are in favour of readmission, the impeached member shall rejoin the Council with immediate effect.
Article V: Formula for World Rankings
Section 1: For each Classic, divide the number of games a team won by the number of games played by the team playing the most games.
Section 2: A team's ranking is the sum of:
Clause a. Four times their Section 1 quotient for the most recently completed Classic;
Clause b. Twice their Section 1 quotient for the next-most-recent completed Classic; and
Clause c. The unmodified Section 1 quotient for the third-most-recent completed Classic.
Section 3: When calculating the rankings, any games won due to forfeit are still treated as bona fide wins.
Article VI: Tournament Sportsmanship
Section 1: No team may voluntarily forfeit games or entire series after a World Baseball Classic has started.
Section 2: Only nations that have ceased to exist during the World Baseball Classic before being eliminated are deemed as forfeiting.
Section 3: Forfeited games due to CTE by a nation are automatic victories for the opposing team and should be scorinated as such.
Article VII: Voting Procedures
Section 1: For a Council vote to be considered valid, a motion must have a simple majority of votes cast provided that a quorum of Council members votes in favour of or against the motion at vote.
Section 2: For the purposes of this amendment, a "quorum" shall be defined as one more than half the current voting membership of the Council.
Section 3: Any measure that receives the votes of one more than half the active Council membership shall be automatically approved.
Article VIII: Miscellaneous Procedures
Section 1: When creating the signup thread, the thread creator is to provide (at minimum) a link to the winning bid of the last World Baseball Classic and set a definitive deadline for when host bids must be received by.