Since the schedule the last years was quite tight for visa and funding application and planning team travel, the TC decided to change the schedule of the qualification process this year. The time plan for 2017 is as follows:

1. Call for participation: Published as soon as possible, latest October 31st
2. Submission deadline for team applications: December 1st
3. Announcement of qualification results: January 8th

The TC is also hoping to publih the first draft of the new rule book before the end of the
application process and invite discussion about the rule proposal until the end of
January, so a final version of the rule book can be released by the end of February.

The TC hopes this will give teams not only the possibility to adapt to the rule changes early, but also to give comments about the rule draft which will be considered by the TC for the final version.