FIDE ban phones from chess venues

The latest changes to the official FIDE laws of chess have taken the hard-line of banning mobile phones from playing venues completely.

This will apply to all FIDE rated events, although there is dispensation for individual tournaments to specify a less severe penalty than the loss of the game.

The new rules in full (with changes higlighted) are available at the FIDE website at this link. The section relating to mobile phones is shown below. A handy summary of all the changes can be found at the Suffolk Chess website here.

I think strong measured are needed to deter computer-aided cheating, so I support this change in principle, but I do wonder how easy it will be to enforce, and just how players will manage to cope without their phones!