Organizational group of the IECO

The organizing group usually consists of 5 participants-curators, of which one supervisor of the competition, one current winner, one invited observer selected in the general vote among the rest of the participants and two active observers who have made a great contribution to the development of the project. The group of organizers determines the course of the season and the competition in the future, makes changes and additions to the rules of the competition, or cancels some of its points. Each member of the organizational group has the right to submit proposals for consideration by the other members of the group. The competition supervisor has a time-limited stay in the organizational group. Active observers may be in a group with the permission of the competition supervisor. The remaining members are temporary (usually for one season).

2022-2023

Organizational group 2023
Position	Q4-2022	Q1-2023	Q2-2023	Q3-2023	Q4-2023
Executive supervisor	Mark Nightingale
Head Broadcaster (Winner)	Sergey Ladysev	Igor Kapsharin	Nikita Likhanov	TBD
Active Observer	Pasha Kulik	N/A	Pasha Kulik		TBD
	N/A		Denis Vorobyov	TBD
Elected by other members			Denis Leonenko	TBD

Q1-2023

This season, there were no consultations regarding video rule changes and organizational issues.

Q2-2023

Elected by other members

Three nominations have been accepted for the seat of the fifth organizing group member for the Q2-2023 season: Canada, South Korea and Lebanon. As a result of the vote, the curator of South Korea was endowed with the rights of a member of the organizational group for a period of a season.

Voting results
Candidate	Total 1		Total 2		Supported
Denis Leonenko	38%	6 votes	50%	6 votes	Hungary, South Korea, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Thailand
Alexandr Mishenkov	31%	5 votes	42%	5 votes	Australia, Canada, Croatia, Japan, San Marino
Anton Desyatov	6%	1 vote	8%	1 vote	Lebanon
Against everyone	25%	4 votes	N/A		Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Norway, United Kingdom

Decision

• #1.1 Venue ( Accepted ):

Between the curators of Australia and San Marino, it was decided to hold the competition in Australia (2nd place last season) due to the lack of a suitable venue for organizing the competition. It was also agreed that San Marino would be directly involved in organizing the season with Australia, as well as using the heart of the San Marino flag on the logo of the season.

• #1.2 Blocking songs from Billboard ( Rejected but with note ):

The issue of banning the selection of very popular compositions was raised at the Q1-2023 contest, when world-famous performers represented China (Sam Smith and 9th place), Montenegro (David Guetta & Bebe Rexha and 8th place) and Croatia (Doja Cat and 18th place). Some curators expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that these compositions (or they were also called "boyan", which means very publicized compositions of very famous performers) interfere with the exchange of music in the environment.

Reaction:
Australia - advocates for the restriction of world-famous artists and their songs.
Portugal and South Korea - advocates for limiting Billboard compositions, but against a ban on world-famous artists in general.
Japan - stands for the abolition of this restriction in any form. As an option, it was proposed to limit a particular curator to submit no more than one such application on his own within 4 seasons.

Voting: Should Billboard songs be restricted?
"Yes!" (40%) - Australia and South Korea
"Limit to quota level" (20%) - Portugal
"No!" (40%) - Japan and San Marino

As a result of the voting, it was decided to introduce quotas for the use of compositions from Billboard. So it is allowed to use a composition from Billboard Hot-100 once a season, and the participant has the right to put up such a composition from himself no more than once in 4 seasons of participation.

• #1.3 Participation of Kosovo ( Not accepted ):

The issue of permission to add Kosovo to the list of countries available for participation (supervision of the country) was raised by South Korea, conditioned by the fact that the country is recognized as a sufficient part of the world community that adheres to democratic values. The Australian side, on the contrary, criticized such a proposal, stating that the Kosovo bidder could open the door to other partially recognized or not recognized territories.

Voting: Should Kosovo be admitted to the list of countries to participate?
"Yes!" (40%) - Japan and South Korea
"Neutral attitude" (20%) - Portugal
"No!" (40%) - Australia and San Marino

As a result of the vote, it was decided not to give Kosovo the right to participate in the competition. Japan announced that it will wait until Kosovo becomes a full member of the UN.