GAMAC Operating Rules

Procedural rules adopted under Article 12.3 of the GAMAC Charter

---

1. Purpose and Scope

These Operating Rules implement the Charter of the Global Alliance for Media Authentication and Cooperation (GAMAC). "ICOPC" means the International Certified Online-journalist Professional Credential, as defined in Article 6 of the Charter. They govern admission of members, the rights and duties of membership, operation of the ICOPC credential system, annual compliance and reporting, complaints and dispute resolution, meetings and voting, and document control. Where these Rules conflict with the Charter, the Charter prevails. Terms defined in the Charter have the same meaning here.

2. Membership Application Form

2.1 Online application fields

Applications are submitted through the form at gamacalliance.org/join, which feeds the Secretariat review console. The form collects:

1. Organization name (required)
2. Organization type (required): news outlet / newsroom; journalists' association or union; media-development organization; cultural or educational entity; technical / open-source community; other
3. Country (required)
4. Region (required): Africa; Asia and the Pacific; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and Western Asia; Europe and other regions
5. Contact person (required, full name)
6. Contact email (required, organizational email preferred)
7. Organization size (optional): 1–10; 11–50; 51–200; 200+ people
8. Website (required where one exists)
9. Statement of interest (required): mission, current verification challenges, or intended form of participation
10. Recommender (required where the applicant claims an existing GAMAC relationship): name of the recommending Voting Member and contact; may be left blank, in which case Secretariat review applies
11. Compliance commitments (required affirmative checkboxes): (a) the applicant is a genuine organization/person exercising the stated function; (b) the applicant accepts the Charter and these Operating Rules; (c) it will not sell, resell or misuse credentials or the Alliance's marks; (d) the information supplied is accurate to the best of the applicant's knowledge.

2.2 Individual Affiliate applications

Individual applicants additionally supply: professional role and beat; samples of or links to published work; and either a recommendation from a Voting Member or an explanation of why none is available.

2.3 Administrative handling

Every submission receives an automated acknowledgement. The Secretariat records each lead with the statuses new → under review → approved / declined, with timestamps and the reviewer's notes retained internally. The form is an expression of interest; nothing is published about an applicant until admission is confirmed and countersigned.

3. Admission Review — Standard Operating Procedure

3.1 Intake (within 5 working days). The Secretariat confirms completeness, assigns a reference (GAM-YYYY-NNNN), and acknowledges receipt. Incomplete applications receive one written request for missing information.

3.2 Eligibility pre-screening (within 15 working days). The Secretariat verifies authenticity, never relying on the application alone:

• the website and public footprint exist, are operational, and match the claimed organization;
• the organization is registered, published or otherwise demonstrably established (registration databases, press regulators' lists, association rosters, peer references);
• editorial activity is genuine — original reporting, known masthead history, identifiable journalists;
• anti-fraud screening: the outlet is not a known fake-news, impersonation or shell operation; contact domains are not disposable; no duplicate application exists under another name;
• for individuals: identity, published body of work and, where required, the recommending member.

Doubts are resolved in favour of further inquiry, not refusal; the Secretariat may conduct a short written interview or video call.

3.3 Interim Steering Committee decision. The Secretariat submits a reasoned recommendation (admit, decline, or seek more information) to the Interim Steering Committee, which decides by consensus or, failing consensus, by majority vote under Charter Article 5.2. Decisions are minuted without recording sensitive personal material. Target: decision within 30 working days of intake.

3.4 Commitment and publication. An approved applicant receives the Membership Commitment Letter (Annex A). Membership takes effect when the Letter is countersigned and returned. The member is then listed on the public members page by region; only the organization name, country, category and admission date are published.

3.5 Declined applications. Decline decisions are communicated in writing with reasons at a level of detail consistent with safety (fraud indicators need not be disclosed). A declined applicant may reapply once after twelve (12) months, or sooner if material circumstances change.

3.6 From the first election of the Permanent Steering Committee, the Secretariat continues steps 3.1–3.2 and reports admissions under rules confirmed by the General Assembly; the overall time targets remain in force.

4. Rights and Duties of Members

4.1 Rights

1. To participate in the General Assembly, with voting rights according to membership category (Charter Articles 4.1 and 5.1);
2. To stand for, or nominate candidates for, the Steering Committee and panels, subject to eligibility;
3. To participate in the Technical Working Group and other working groups;
4. To use the Alliance marks in accordance with the mark-use rules to indicate membership;
5. To receive ICOPC capacity-building support — documentation, training and, for qualifying Global South organizations, technology-transfer support;
6. To access open-source verification tools and the public registry;
7. To propose agenda items, resolutions and Charter amendments;
8. To be treated fairly under these Rules and to use the complaint procedures.

4.2 Duties

1. To comply with the Charter, these Operating Rules and the ethical conduct standard;
2. To keep organizational and contact information current, and to notify the Secretariat within thirty (30) days of material changes;
3. To complete the annual compliance self-assessment (Section 6) and respond to reasonable Secretariat inquiries;
4. To vouch for credential holders responsibly, verify their continuing standing, and promptly report loss, misuse or change of status;
5. Not to misuse, sell, rent, counterfeit or imitate credentials, registry data or Alliance marks;
6. To cooperate in good faith with reviews and grievance proceedings;
7. To respect privacy and use registry data only for verification and journalistic purposes — bulk scraping, surveillance use and resale are prohibited.

5. ICOPC Credential Operations

5.1 Application materials

A credential is requested by the vouching member organization for a named journalist, supplying: holder's full name and professional role; issuing organization and the authorizing officer; region/country; a professional portrait and contact channel for operational verification; the holder's signed ethical undertaking; and confirmation that the holder is a genuine, accountable journalist. Individual Affiliates apply with the additional evidence described in Section 2.2 and Secretariat endorsement.

5.2 Verification and issuance

1. The Secretariat checks the application against the public record of the vouching member, confirms directly with the authorizing officer, and performs identity and anti-fraud checks.
2. On approval, the record is written to the decentralized ledger and the public registry before or simultaneously with card dispatch; the physical NFC card is then produced and delivered by tracked means.
3. Each production credential receives a unique identifier in the format ICOPC-YYYY-XXXXXX (year-prefixed, sequential, non-reusable). Demonstration records use ICOPC-DEMO-XXXX only.
4. The public record contains: credential ID, holder name, role, issuing organization, region, issue/expiry dates and current status (active, suspended, revoked). No home address, private contact details or biometric data is published.

5.3 Suspension and revocation

The Secretariat shall suspend or revoke a credential, recording the reason and effective time, where: the card is reported lost or stolen; the holder is no longer vouched for; misuse or fraud is substantiated; or the issuing organization so requests in good faith. Temporary suspension is used for pending investigations. The registry reflects the change immediately, and verification responses state the current status without disclosing underlying personal data.

5.4 Review

The holder or issuing organization may request review of a refusal, suspension or revocation within thirty (30) days: first a factual review by the Secretariat (response within 15 working days), then referral to the Ethics & Grievance Panel where the dispute persists. Charter Article 6.7 governs transition where a member withdraws or is expelled.

5.5 Public registry and demonstration data

1. Verification at gamacalliance.org/verify is free, requires no login, and does not track verifiers.
2. Demonstration records (seeded as ICOPC-DEMO-0001, ICOPC-DEMO-0002 and ICOPC-DEMO-0003, of which one is held in revoked state for testing) carry a permanent "SAMPLE RECORD — DEMONSTRATION ONLY" banner and an amber DEMO indicator in every view, including machine responses. They shall never be presented as enrolled journalists or organizations.
3. Registry data corrections are made through the Secretariat with a logged audit trail; historical corrections remain traceable.

6. Annual Compliance Self-Assessment and Public Reporting

6.1 Each member completes an annual compliance self-assessment within sixty (60) days of the anniversary of admission, covering: continued eligibility and accuracy of listed information; credentials vouched for and their standing; any complaints or ethical incidents; and data-handling practice. The self-assessment is a short, proportional questionnaire; it imposes no fee.

6.2 The Secretariat reviews submissions, follows up on gaps, and reports aggregate results. Failure to submit after two reminders results in administrative suspension of membership privileges pending completion; this is not an expulsion ground by itself.

6.3 The Secretariat publishes an annual transparency report covering: membership by category and region; credential issuance, suspension and revocation counts; capacity-building delivery against the 500+ Global South goal (reported as progress, never pre-counted); complaints and their outcomes; and the financial summary required by Charter Article 8.4. The report is published at gamacalliance.org and circulated to members.

7. Complaints and Dispute Resolution

7.1 Standing and submission. Any person may submit a written, substantiated complaint concerning a member, a credential, or a governance actor, via a published channel administered by the Secretariat. Anonymous complaints may be accepted where supported by evidence.

7.2 Screening. The Secretariat acknowledges complaints within ten (10) working days and screens for jurisdiction and prima facie substance. Vexatious or unsubstantiated complaints are closed with brief reasons; matters involving the Secretariat itself are routed directly to the Panel.

7.3 Ethics & Grievance Panel. The Panel, independent of the Secretariat (Charter Article 5.5.2), handles admissible complaints by fair procedure: written notice to the respondent, a reasonable right to respond, consideration of evidence, and a reasoned written outcome (dismiss, recommend corrective action, recommend suspension/expulsion or credential action). It observes confidentiality where required and protects complainants against retaliation.

7.4 Interim measures. Where the public registry or persons may be harmed by delay, the Secretariat may take temporary credential action under Section 5.3 pending the Panel's determination.

7.5 Appeal. Panel outcomes in membership and credential cases take effect on confirmation by the Steering Committee; after the permanent phase, a party may seek final review by the General Assembly where the outcome is expulsion.

7.6 Until the Panel is constituted, the Interim Steering Committee discharges these functions with the same notice-and-hearing safeguards.

8. Meetings and Voting

8.1 Sessions. The General Assembly meets once per year (Charter Article 5.1). Sessions may be held online; participation by video counts as attendance. At least thirty (30) days' notice and the agenda and papers shall be given.

8.2 Quorum and majorities. One-third of Voting Members constitute quorum; ordinary matters pass by simple majority of votes cast; Charter amendments require two-thirds; dissolution requires three-quarters. Limited-vote members vote on the matters defined in the Charter; the presiding officer records, for each decision, which voting pools participated.

8.3 Written resolutions. Between sessions, ordinary matters may be decided by written (electronic) resolution circulated at least fifteen (15) days, supported by a simple majority of Voting Members responding; no member may be unreasonably denied the right to request full debate at a session instead.

8.4 Proxy voting. A Voting Member unable to attend may appoint another Voting Member as proxy by written notice lodged before the session. No member may hold more than two (2) proxies. Cultural and Technical members exercise their limited votes directly.

8.5 Steering Committee and working-group meetings follow the same notice and minuting practice; minutes record decisions, conflicts of interest declared, and abstentions, and are available to members.

9. Document Control and Revision

9.1 Governance documents carry a version number, date, status and owner, as shown on the cover of these Rules. The Charter and these Rules, mark-use guidance, the ethical conduct standard and annual reports are published at gamacalliance.org.

9.2 All revisions are recorded in a revision log (version, date, author/body, summary of change, effective date). Superseded versions remain archived and identifiable; the current English and Chinese texts are the official versions.

9.3 These Operating Rules are adopted by the Interim Steering Committee during the founding phase, take effect on publication, and are submitted to the first General Assembly for confirmation. They may be revised by the Interim Steering Committee before that time for conforming adjustments, and thereafter by the General Assembly by simple majority, except that changes touching Charter-reserved matters require the Charter amendment procedure.

---

Annex A — Membership Commitment Letter (Template)

Global Alliance for Media Authentication and Cooperation — Membership Commitment Letter<br><br>To the GAMAC Interim Secretariat:<br><br>The undersigned organization, having read the GAMAC Charter (v1.0) and Operating Rules (v1.0), hereby applies for membership and commits, for the duration of its membership:<br><br>1. to uphold the Alliance's mission and guiding principles, including distributed authority, radical transparency, privacy by default and independence;<br>2. to provide truthful information in this application and to keep its membership record current;<br>3. not to buy, sell, rent, counterfeit or misuse GAMAC credentials, registry data or marks, and to use marks only as permitted;<br>4. to vouch only for genuine journalists, to report credential problems promptly, and to respect the suspension and revocation procedures;<br>5. to complete the annual compliance self-assessment and cooperate in good faith with any grievance proceeding;<br>6. to respect privacy and refrain from bulk harvesting, surveillance use or resale of registry data.<br><br>We acknowledge that membership is free of charge, forever; that membership confers no United Nations status, endorsement or certification; and that the Alliance may suspend or terminate membership in accordance with the Charter.<br><br>Organization: ____________________________ Category: ______________<br><br>Authorized signatory (name/title): ____________________________<br><br>Signature / date: ____________________________<br><br>*For Secretariat use: reference GAM-YYYY-NNNN · decision · date · countersigned on behalf of the Interim Secretariat.*

---

Adopted and published by the International Communication Organization as Interim Secretariat of GAMAC, September 2026.

Chen Xuegang ICO Executive Chairman (on behalf of the Interim Secretariat)