WBF Alerting Policy
Issued byWBFWorld Bridge Federation
EditionRevised August 2022
StatusIn force
LanguageEnglish
The alerting rules for WBF championships, revised in August 2022. Alert artificial calls, not natural ones; also alert calls with special meanings or based on special partnership understandings, non-forcing jump shifts and non-forcing new-suit responses by an unpassed hand. With screens, an alert on one side only is not automatically an infraction. The policy says it does not override the alerting rules of zones and national federations.
Alerting at a glance
- Basic rule
- Alert artificial calls; natural calls are not alerted. Also alert calls with special meanings or based on special partnership understandings, non-forcing jump shifts, and non-forcing new-suit responses by an unpassed hand to a one-level opening.
- Announcements
- No announcements.
- Natural 1NT opening
- Natural — not alerted.
- Transfers after 1NT
- Artificial — alerted under the general rule.
- Doubles
- Alerted when they have a special meaning (the policy covers passes
- High-level calls
- No separate rule for high-level calls.
- Behind screens
- An alert on one side of the screen but not the other is not automatically an infraction.
- Good to know
- Applies to WBF championships only; zones and national federations keep their own rules.
More from World Bridge Federation
| Document | Issued by | Edition | Official text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2017 | WBF | 2017, as amended 1 January 2024 | PDF ↗ |
| Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2017 — gender-neutral text | WBF | 2017, as amended 1 January 2024 | PDF ↗ |
| Revised Laws 73 and 89 (2024) | WBF | December 2023 | PDF ↗ |
| Commentary on the 2017 Laws | WBF | Updated 26 June 2023 | PDF ↗ |
| WBF Laws Committee decisions 1998–2019 (compendium) | WBF | 2023 | PDF ↗ |
| Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2027 — review in progress In preparation | WBF | Next edition | Web ↗ |
| WBF Systems Policy | WBF | 2024 | PDF ↗ |
| WBF Psychic Bidding Guidelines | WBF | — | PDF ↗ |
This page is a summary written by Bridge Timer. The official text published by World Bridge Federation is the only authoritative version.
← All rules & docsLink checked 2026-10-01 · source: WBF Systems Committee