by Felix Majani University of Tillburg, Spring Semester

LEGAL BACKGROUND Independent institution, IOC, Lausanne, Need to offer a quick and inexpensive procedure to settle sport related disputes. Highest arbitral court in the world of sports. Awards are final and binding. Only appeal to Swiss Federal Tribunal 2

THE CODE OF SPORT-RELATED ARBITRATION Established in 1994 and revised in 2003,2010 and January 2012 It governs the organisation and arbitration procedures of the CAS. It also contains a set of mediation rules and ad hoc rules. 3

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS Provides services for settlement of disputes: Arbitration (i) ordinary proceedings (ii) appeal proceedings Mediation 4

NATURE OF DISPUTES Contractual relations (transfers, unpaid players or agents, breach of contract by clubs or players) Doping Commercial disputes (TV/Marketing agreements, breach of club licensing requirements) Criminal - match fixing Training compensation, solidarity mechanism 5

TYPES OF PROCEEDINGS Ordinary proceedings. Cases heard at 1st instance Appeal proceedings. Involve appeals against decisions passed at federative or association level. 6

LENGTH OF PROCEEDINGS Ordinary procedure – between 6 and 12 months Appeals procedure – within 3 months 7

CAS JURISDCTION WRITTEN AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARTIES Such agreement could: a) Appear in a contract b) Appear in the statutes or regulations of a sports organization. 8

LAW APPLIED In Appeal procedures Statutes or regulations of the federation, association or sports related body which issued the appealed decision. e.g article 62.2 FIFA Statute – the CAS shall primarily apply the various regulations of FIFA and, additionally, Swiss law In Ordinary procedures Parties can agree on law applicable. In case there is no agreement, Swiss law applies. The parties may also authorise the panel to decide ex aequo et bono. 9

THE ARBITRATORS List of arbitrators maintained by the ICAS. Anyone eligible provided that he or she has full legal training, demonstrates good competence in relation to sports law and/or international arbitration, has good knowledge of sports in general and a good command of at least one of the CAS working languages (English, French and Spanish). Nationalities – 300 arbitrators from more than 87 countries Conflict of interest – not litigate and at the same time arbitrate. 10

LANGUAGES Official – English, French and Spanish. Parties can also agree on a different language, provided the arbitrators have knowledge of that language. 11

Thank you CRA – Coelho Ribeiro e Associados 12