Editor’s note: This report compiles all relevant news, events and materials on
International and European Sports Law based on the daily coverage provided on
our twitter feed @Sportslaw_asser. You are invited to complete this survey via the comments section
below, feel free to add links to important cases, documents and articles we
might have overlooked.
The Headlines
We
are looking for an International Sports Law Intern (with a particular interest
in the CAS)! More information can be found here.
The (terrible) State of the World
Anti-Doping System
The fight against doping is still on
top of the agenda after the Russian doping scandal. The national anti-doping
organizations (NADOs) have reiterated their call for an in depth reform of the
World Anti-Doping Agency at a special summit in Bonn, Germany. These reforms are deemed urgent
and necessary to “restore confidence of clean athletes and those who value the
integrity of sport” and secure “the public’s desire for a fair and level
playing field”. The NADOs propose, amongst others things, to separate the
investigatory, testing and results management functions from sports
organizations, and to remove sports administrators from crucial anti-doping
executive functions. They insist that “no decision maker within an anti-doping organization
should hold a board, officer, or other policy-making position within a sport or
event organizer”. WADA welcomed the reform proposals and pledged to
discuss them at the upcoming meeting of the foundation board. The necessity of
such a reform, or at least of improving the effectiveness of the anti-doping
system, has been highlighted (again!) by the release of WADA’s Report of the Independent Observers concerning the 2016 Rio Olympic
Games. The reports point out that “the logistical arrangements made by Rio 2016
to support the sample collection process at official venues during the Games
suffered from a number of serious failings”. These “foreseeable and entirely
avoidable” logistical issues resulted in a strained sample collection process. On
the way forward to reform WADA you can read some ASSER proposals in a recent policy brief by our Senior Researcher Antoine
Duval.
The Sharapova CAS award
Everything related to Maria
Sharapova is necessarily making a lot of noise. Unsurprisingly, the CAS award
on her positive doping test to Meldonium has attracted a lot of media
attention. The decision in the dispute between Maria Sharapova and
the International Tennis Federation (ITF) reduced the period of her
suspension by nine months. The Russian tennis star had, during the Australian
Open in January 2016, tested positive for the presence of Meldonium. A
substance which had, for the first time, been put on WADA’s prohibited list in
2016. Subsequently, Sharapova announced she had been taking Mildronate tablets
that had been prescribed by her doctor for many years. As her medical team “had
failed to notice” that Meldonium was included on the list of prohibited
substances, Sharapova claimed to be unaware that she committed a violation of
an anti-doping rule. The CAS Panel shortened the period of ineligibility from
the initial period of two years (imposed by the ITF’s judicial body) to fifteen
months. It emphasized that the case turned on “the degree of fault that can be
imputed to the player for her failure to make sure that the substance contained
in a product that she had been taking over a long period remained in compliance
with the anti-doping rules”. Given that her ban started on 26 January 2016,
Sharapova will already be back in action late spring 2017. This ASSER
International Sports Law blog by Marjolaine Viret, triggered by the Sharapova case, tackles the specific
questions of the athletes (ir)responsibilities when taking medication. To what
extent should they consult experts before taking a medication and to what
extent can we assume that they are sufficiently qualified to assess the doping
consequences of a specific product. .
The Bundesgerichtshof’s ruling in
the SV Wilhelmshaven case
The ruling by Germany’s Highest Civil Court in the SV Wilhelmshaven
case challenging FIFA’s training compensation system has been released. The BGH
sided with the club but declined to pronounce itself on the compatibility of
the FIFA regulations with EU law and on the validity of the original CAS award.
The Asser International Sports Law Centre together with the Dutch Federation of
Professional Football Clubs (FBO) organized a high-level conference on the
case. You can read the conference report here.
New developments regarding State aid
in sport
Real Madrid claim to have returned the State aid of €20.3 million it illegally received from the
municipality of Madrid through various land transactions. However, the Spanish
giants have also underlined that it is seeking annulment of the Commission’s
decision at the Court of Justice of the EU, meaning that the saga continues
despite the repayment.
The “Real Madrid appeal” has not yet
been registered officially with the CJEU, contrary to the appeals launched by Athletic Club de Bilbao and Valencia CF respectively. Bilbao’s appeal concerns the
Commission’s conclusion that Spain’s corporate tax system was selectively
favourable for the clubs Athletic Club Bilbao, Osasuna, FC Barcelona and Real
Madrid CF in comparison to the other clubs in Spain. At this moment it is still
unknown whether the other clubs will join the appeal. More information on this
State aid decision can be found in the blog written by Oskar van Maren.
In addition to its action for
annulment, Valencia CF also launched proceedings for interim measures which aim
to suspend the repayment of the aid until the General Court decides in the main
proceedings. In parallel, the Spanish public authority responsible for ordering
the return of the State aid from Valencia CF, i.e. the government of the
autonomous region of Valencia, has asked the Commission to prolong the deadline for
the return of the aid. These two requests need to be read in light of
Valencia CF’s current financial situation. Its obligation to repay more than
€23 million could well mean the bankruptcy of the Champions League finalist of
2000 and 2001.
Our in-house State aid and sport
expert, Oskar van Maren, will dissect all the decisions of this year in a
special lecture (State aid in Football: The year of the European
Commission) on 24 November.
Just Published! The Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration
Senior Researcher and head of ASSER
International Sports Law Centre, Antoine Duval, has just published with CAS
expert (and lawyer) Antonio Rigozzi a new Yearbook of International Sports
Arbitration (the 2015 edition is available here). This is the first ever academic publication aiming
to offer comprehensive coverage, on a yearly basis, of the most recent and
salient developments regarding international sports arbitration, through a
combination of general articles and case notes.
Case law
CAS
CAS
2016/A/4643 Maria Sharapova v. International Tennis Federation
CAS
2016/O/4684 The Russian Olympic Committee (“ROC”), [Russian Athletes] v. The
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
EU
EU
Commission State Aid SA.44439 (2016/N) – Sporting Arena Cork – Ireland
IOC
IOC
Disciplinary Commission decision regarding Anna Chicherova
IOC
Disciplinary Commission decision regarding Tatyana Lysenko
Wilhelmshaven ruling
Bundesgerichtshof
Urteil vom 20. September 2016 - II ZR 25/15 - OLG Bremen LG Bremen
Other
Doyen’s
Appeal to FIFA’s TPO ban before Paris court
Official documents and Press releases
CAS
list of hearing November and December
CAS
The Court of Arbitration for Sport Reduces the ban of Maria Sharapova to
fifteen months
CAS
Essendon Case: The appeal filed by 34 players is not entertained by the Swiss
Federal Tribunal
CAS
The Court of Arbitration for Sport issues decisions in the case of five Russian
racewalkers
CAS
IAAF appeal upheld – Rita Jeptoo suspended for four years by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport
CIES
Football Observatory Monthly Report n°18 - October 2016, “Recruitment
strategies throughout Europe”
Commentary
by the Spanish anti-doping agency AEPSAD on the whereabouts High Court decision
(in Spanish)
European
Parliament Committee on Culture and Education on an integrated approach to
Sport Policy: good governance, accessibility and integrity (2016/2143(INI))
FIFA
Several football associations sanctioned after discriminatory and unsporting
conduct of fans
FIFA
President Infantino provides update on steps taken to improve governance and
compliance as well as football development efforts
Spanish
FA sanctioned for international transfers of minors
IAAF Ethics Board Statement on
preliminary investigations into ‘brown envelope’ rumours surrounding bid for
2017 World Championships
IOC
Declaration of the 5th Olympic Summit Protecting clean athletes is an absolute
priority for the entire Olympic Movement
NADA-Statement
zum 5. Olympic Summit
UK
Parliament Culture, Media and Sport Committee, The Governance of Football inquiry
WADA
Statement regarding Maria Sharapova CAS decision
WADA
statement regarding Olympic Summit
WADA
Compliance Review Committee Update
WADA
Statement by Richard H. McLaren, Independent Person, Concerning Release of his
Investigation Report, Part II
WADA
Report of the Independent Observers, Games of the XXXI Olympiad, Rio de Janeiro
2016
WADA
statement regarding renewed NADO anti-doping reform proposals
In the news
Doping
AP, New WADA director general
Olivier Niggli anticipates more state-sponsored doping
Nick Butler, Exclusive: IOC Medical
Commission chair calls for more Government funding for WADA
Nick Butler, WADA report is microcosm of
everything wrong with Rio 2016 and IOC
Causa Sport, „Fall Scharapowa“:
Unachtsamkeit schützt vor (Doping-)Strafe
George Georgakopoulos, Greece lags in doping tests
and would need assistance
David Millar, How to Get Away With Doping
Michael Pavitt, New testing authority within
WADA proposed at Olympic Summit
Sport Leaks and Doping Leaks
Luis Torres Montero, Claves
de la reducción de la sanción a Sharapova: análisis del reciente laudo del TAS
Jonathan Sachse and Daniel Drepper, Wie VfB Stuttgart und SC
Freiburg Doping organisierten
Thorhild Widvey, WADA Must Be Reinforced and
Publicly Supported
Football
Vivek Chaudhary, FIFA's Gianni Infantino may
face Ethics Committee investigation
Willem Feenstra, FIFA charged with
complicity in human rights violations Qatar
Keir Radnedge, Infantino talks a good game
about Fifa reform, but can he deliver?
Mike Ticher, Human error is part of
football and video refereeing will solve nothing
Ice Skating
Ernst Bouwes, De internationale sportweek
van S&S: EU geeft schaatsers gelijk in 'Ice-derby'-zaak
Causa Sport, Kartellverfahren gegen den
internationalen Eislaufverband ISU: Das „Ein-Platz-Prinzip“ vor dem Aus?
Other
Brittany Bronson, Politicians
Place a Bet on a Stadium, and Vegas Pays for It
Juliet Macur, Long
Before Kaepernick, There Was Navratilova
Rebecca Ruiz, Russia
Sports Minister Promoted to Deputy Prime Minister
Academic materials
Antoine Duval, Tackling
Doping Seriously - Reforming the World Anti-Doping System after the Russian
Scandal
Despina Mavromati, Application
of the 2015 WADA Code through the Example of a recent CAS Award (Sharapova v.
ITF)
Despina
Mavromati, The
Role of the Swiss Federal Tribunal and Its Impact on the Court of Arbitration
for Sport (CAS)
Mordehai
Mironi, The
promise of mediation in sport-related disputes
Michal Radvan and Jan
Neckář, Taxation
of Professional Team Sport Athletes in the Czech Republic
Books
Antoine Duval and
Antonio Rigozzi, Yearbook of
International Sports Arbitration 2015
Blogs
Richard Bush, Best
practice for Sports Governing Bodies when dealing with individual complainants:
Part 1 - Internal procedure and Part
2 - Guidelines for legal teams
Sean Cottrell and
Mark Hovell, Life
as a CAS arbitrator at the Rio Olympic Games
Sean Cottrell, Protecting
the integrity of the Rugby World Cup - Ben Rutherford, Senior Legal Counsel and
Integrity Unit Manager at World Rugby
Sean Cottrell, Nick
De Marco, Nick Tsatsas and Richard Berry, How
does the transfer market influence the integrity of football?
Nick De Marco, “Football
for Sale” - What is the problem, and what are the solutions?
Antoine Duval and
Kester Mekenkamp, De-
or Re-regulating the middlemen? The DFB’s regulation of intermediaries under EU
law scrutiny at the OLG Frankfurt
Jon Elphick, How
athletes will be affected by the UK’s changes to “non-dom” tax rules
Alex Haffner and
Krish Mistry, The
law on banning athletes from competing in rival sports leagues
Philip Hutchinson, Who
shoulders the blame? An analysis of vicarious liability in the sports industry
Interpol
Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 3-16 October 2016 and 17-31
October 2016
Christian Keidel and
Alexander Engelhard, How
the Bundesliga’s new “no single buyer” rule has increased the broadcasting
revenue for German football
Saurabh Mishra, Important
lessons for athletes on doping sabotage: A review of WADA v. Narsingh Yadav
Laura McCallum, An
overview of key case law relating to negligent liability for sports injuries
(Part 1) and (Part
2)
Alice McDonald, Footballers
facing tax fines: who is responsible for inaccurate tax returns?
Marine Montejo, Case note:
TAS 2016/A/4474 Michel Platini c. Fédération Internationale de Football
Association
Michael Rueda, What
is next for NCAA student-athletes? From O'Bannon onto Jenkins
Ralph Russo, Although
NCAA loses its appeal, future still hazy
Luke Sayer, Possible
ways the Therapeutic Use Exemptions system can be improved to prevent abuse
Zane Shihab and Nick
Bitel, What
effects have FIFA’s Intermediaries Regulations had on player representation and
commission levels?
The Swiss Ramble, Arsenal
- New Sensation
The Swiss Ramble, Borussia
Dortmund - The Sound Of The Crowd
The Swiss Ramble, Manchester
City - My Aim Is True
The Swiss Ramble, Stoke
City - But I'm Different Now
Oskar van Maren, Case
note: State aid Decision on the preferential corporate tax treatment of Real
Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna and FC Barcelona
Ben Van Rompuy, What
can EU competition law do for speed skaters?
Marjolaine Viret , Taking
the Blue Pill or the Red Pill: Should Athletes Really Check their Medications
against the Prohibited List Personally?
Upcoming events
18 November - Football
Law Conference and Sportspersons’ Dinner, St John’s Buildings Barristers’ Chambers and the Centre for Sports Law
Research at Edge Hill University, Stretford, UK
24 November – Sports Law
Lecture “State aid in Football: The year of the European Commission”, T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, the Netherlands
8 December - Actualiteitencursus Internationaal
Sportrecht, De Kempenaer Advocaten, Arnhem, the Netherlands