ago.12.2006

The press accreditation process for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will officially start on 8 August this year - 24 months prior to the start of the Beijing Games - when the IOC notifies all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of their press accreditation quota allocation.

The overall press quota for the Beijing Games will be 5,600, the same as for Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

The Two-Stage Accreditation Process - involving the Press by Number process followed by the Press by Name process - will start on 1 March 2007, two months earlier than the Athens and Torino timelines, when the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) distributes the Press by Number forms and related publications, such as the Press Accommodation Guide, Freight and Shipping Guide, Rate Card and Media Information Guide to all NOCs.

By this date each NOC will have allocated its press quota to the main media organizations and will then forward the accreditation forms and related publications to those organizations. Completed forms must be returned by the NOC to BOCOG by June 2007.

The Press by Name process will start in November 2007 when each press organization must identify their individual team members and notify the NOC no later than February 2008.

The non rights holding broadcast ENR accreditation process will start in March 2007 when the IOC posts the ENR application forms and rules on the IOC website www.olympic.org, with the deadline for applying closing in June 2007.

The accommodation, MPC office space and rate card ordering and booking processes will also run concurrently during this timeline.

Journalists and photographers are reminded that the NOC is solely responsible for the allocation of its press accreditation quota within its territory, in accordance with IOC guidelines, while the IOC directly manages the ENR accreditation process. The Internet or any other communication medium are to be considered within the NOC quota and are subject to the same professional standards as other E accredited persons.

The categories of accreditation will be the same as recent Games: "E" Journalist, "Es" Sport Specific Journalist, "EP" Photographer, "EPs" Sport Specific Photographer, "ET" Technician, "EC" MPC Support Staff and "ENR" Non-rights holding broadcast organization.

An Ex and EPx category will also be allocated for the local press in the co-host cities of Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang or Qinhuangdao (football), Qingdao (sailing) and Hong Kong (equestrian). These Ex and EPx accreditations will be an exclusive own sport venue access and will not offer access to any venue, including the MPC, in Beijing.

The IOC will also work closely with the NOCs and International Federations throughout the press accreditation process in order to maximize the opportunities for specialist media to cover their sports at the Games, especially in the co-host cities.

There are three key initiatives in the Beijing process - firstly, an earlier allocation which will assist NOCs and media organizations prepare for the Games, secondly, an increased communication and education programme undertaken by the IOC and thirdly, a change in the MPC support staff allocation and accreditation process.

MPC support staff EC accreditations for Beijing will not be included in the quotas distributed to NOCs in August. Instead, allocation will be directly by the IOC to those organizations who rent space in the MPC, with the number depending primarily on the size of the space rented by each organization. Not all organizations that rent space will be granted an EC allocation, and once allocated, EC accreditations will not be upgraded.

The purpose for this policy is to ensure that organizations do not need to allocate an E accreditation for support staff purposes and to limit the number of requests for upgrades. For larger NOCs which have multiple organisations renting space in the MPC, the IOC and the NOC may come to an agreement whereby the NOC may coordinate the EC requests from its press organisations and negotiate directly with the IOC on their behalf.

A dedicated page will be launched on www.olympic.org in the middle of June 2006 which will contain all relevant press accreditation information and timelines, and will be constantly updated in the lead up to Beijing 2008.