The Sport law is law as applied to the sport industry.
It is not yet fully develop law. It is most appropriate to refer it as “Sport and the Law” rather than “Sport Law” (Kenneth L. Shropshire, Introduction: Sports Law? )
Sport Law is not independent body of law. Traditionally, the Sport law represent various law applicable in context of the sport, such as Contract law, Labour law, Employment law, Competition law, Tort law, IPR law, Tax law, Criminal law etc.
However, dedicated law, regulations and case-laws has been developed under Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Practising law in sport requires specialised knowledge in various transactional (IPR management, contract management, tax planning, player transfer etc.) and litigation areas (dispute resolution, including CAS). Sport lawyer act as a counsel for a Sport League (say IPL) or an Individual team(Mumbai Indians), represents athletes/players, coaches and other support staff, sport facilities.
Common types of Sport related disputes:
- Employment-related disputes
- Disputes between two clubs/teams
- Disputes between a national or international governing body and an individual player or coach
- Disputes between a national or international governing body and a club/teams
- Disputes between an agent (or intermediary) and a player/club
- Dispute related to IPR
- General disciplinary matters
Dispute resolution:
- Litigation
- Ad-hoc and institutional arbitration
- Judicial bodies of a national or international sports federations (FIFAetc.)
- Sports dispute resolution tribunal (CAS)
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
At the beginning of the 1980s, the regular increase in the number of international sports-related disputes and the absence of any independent authority specialising in sports-related problems and authorised to pronounce binding decisions led the top sports organisations to reflect on the question of sports dispute resolution.
In 1981, soon after his election as IOC President, H.E. Juan Antonio Samaranch had the idea of creating a sports-specific jurisdiction. The following year at the IOC Session held in Rome, IOC member H.E. Judge Kéba Mbaye, who was then a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, chaired a working group tasked with preparing the statutes of what would quickly become the “Court of Arbitration for Sport”.
The seat of CAS is Lausanne, Switzerland and the decentralised CAS offices located in Sydney, Australia; and New York, US. CAS ad hoc division in every Olympic Village, FIFA and UEFA tournaments.
Types of disputes submitted to the CAS
In principle, two types of dispute may be submitted to the CAS: those of a commercial nature, and those of a disciplinary nature.
The first category essentially involves disputes relating to the execution of contracts, such as those relating to sponsorship, the sale of television rights, the staging of sports events, player transfers and relations between players or coaches and clubs and/or agents (employment contracts and agency contracts). Disputes relating to civil liability issues also come under this category (e.g. an accident to an athlete during a sports competition). These so-called commercial disputes are handled by the CAS acting as a court of sole instance.
Disciplinary cases represent the second group of disputes submitted to the CAS, of which a large number are doping-related. In addition to doping cases, the CAS is called upon to rule on various disciplinary cases (violence on the field of play, abuse of a referee).
Such disciplinary cases are generally dealt with in the first instance by the competent sports authorities, and subsequently become the subject of an appeal to the CAS, which then acts as a court of last instance.
Generally speaking, a dispute may be submitted to the CAS only if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties which specifies recourse to the CAS.
(Source: https://www.tas-cas.org/)
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
In February 1999: 1st World Conference on Doping in Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland. On 10 November 1999, WADA was created. WADA’s headquarter in situated at Montreal, Canada and other offices in Cape Town, South Africa; Lausanne, Switzerland; Montevideo, Uruguay; Tokyo, Japan and Warsaw, Poland.
The World Anti-Doping Code (Code) is the core document that harmonizes anti-doping policies, rules and regulations within sport organizations and among public authorities around the world.
(Source: www.wada-ama.org)
Other major concerns
- Corruption
- Match fixing
- Sexual harassment
“Sport has the power to align our passion, energy and enthusiasm around a collective cause. And that is precisely when hope can be nurtured and trust can be regained. It is in our collective interest to harness the tremendous power of sport to help build a better and more sustainable future for all.”
– UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed
Trivia: In August 2013, the UN General Assembly made the decision to proclaim 6 April as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
