An Overview of the Court of Arbitration for Sport

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), also known by its French name Tribunal Arbitral du Sport (TAS), is an institution which provides services to facilitate the settlement of sports-related disputes through arbitration or mediation, by means of procedural rules adapted to the specific needs of the sports world. It is independent of any sports organization.

In this article we explore the history of CAS and describe some of its key features.

History

The establishment of CAS was proposed by Juan Antonio Samaranch, the then President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to deal with the increasing number of disputes in the sports world and to provide a specialist dispute resolution forum for sports-related matters. CAS was officially established in 1984 and was placed under the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

In the early 1990s, several decisions began to shape the CAS into a more credible and independent institution. The 1993 case of Gundel v. La Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) was particularly important as it confirmed the legal status of CAS. In that case a horse rider, Gundel, lodged an appeal for arbitration with CAS on the basis of an arbitration clause set out in the FEI statutes, challenging a decision pronounced by the federation that had disqualified and suspended him for horse doping. The CAS award was partly in favour of the rider (the suspension was reduced from three months to one month). However, Gundel filed an appeal with the Swiss Federal Tribunal, Switzerland's highest court, disputing the validity of the award, which he claimed was rendered by a court which did not meet the conditions of impartiality and independence needed to be considered as a proper arbitration court. The Swiss Federal Tribunal affirmed the validity of CAS's arbitration clauses and recognized CAS as a true court of arbitration.

The Swiss Court was however critical of how close CAS was to the IOC, and this led to the creation of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) in 1994. ICAS was set up to safeguard the independence of CAS and manage its administration and finances, replacing the role played by the IOC. In addition, it established a new set of procedural rules: the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (CAS Code).

Types of disputes and procedures

CAS has the authority to adjudicate any dispute that is of a sporting nature or arises out of a sports context, provided that the parties have agreed to its jurisdiction, either through a specific arbitration agreement or via the statutes or regulations of a sports organization. It includes commercial disputes such as sponsorship and broadcasting rights; disciplinary matters arising from competition such as doping, integrity and match-fixing; and disputes relating to sports governance such as election disputes and transfer issues. 

For disputes resulting from contractual relations or torts, the ordinary arbitration procedure or the mediation procedure is applicable. For disputes resulting from decisions taken by the internal bodies of sports organisations, the appeals arbitration procedure is applicable.

The Anti-Doping Division of CAS (CAS ADD) has been established to hear and decide anti-doping cases as a first-instance authority pursuant to a delegation of powers from the IOC, International Federations of Sports on the Olympic programme, and any other signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC). 

Seat of arbitration

The seat of CAS arbitration is Lausanne, Switzerland. CAS can also hold hearings in other places if the parties agree, and it also has two additional permanent hearing locations in New York City and Sydney to provide better access to sports arbitration for parties located in other parts of the world. 

CAS also establishes ad hoc divisions for the Olympic Summer and Winter Games, and for other major sporting tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup, to deal with disputes that arise shortly before or during the competitions and that require urgent resolution. These can include last-minute eligibility issues, disputes over competition results, and other urgent matters requiring resolution before the end of a competition.

Law applicable to the merits

The law applicable to the merits of the dispute will depend on the parties' agreement, and the statutes or regulations of the sporting organisation relevant to the dispute. If no law is specified, then Swiss law will apply by way of default. CAS arbitrators are also known to apply the 'lex sportiva', a set of unwritten principles derived from the general principles of law applied consistently by sports arbitration tribunals.

Publication of awards

The ordinary arbitration procedure is confidential. In principle, awards are not published.

For the appeals arbitration procedure, unless the parties agree otherwise, the award may be published by CAS. 

Closed list of arbitrators

CAS maintains a closed list of arbitrators, meaning that parties can only select arbitrators from this list. There are three lists of arbitrators: the general list, the football list, and the CAS ADD list. The list comprises individuals with legal training who are recognized as having specific expertise in sports law and/or international arbitration. The ICAS is responsible for the appointment of these arbitrators and for ensuring that the list includes persons with appropriate legal and sports-related qualifications. It aims to maintain a balance in terms of geographic distribution and gender representation. 

Conclusion

The history of CAS shows that it has been able to respond to criticism and revise itself to keep up with changing expectations. It is reasonable to believe it will keep doing so. 

The sporting world is not unique in its ability to generate disputes. However often the subject matter is technical (such as doping), the stakes high (a career may be in jeopardy), and there can be very limited time to resolve them (as events cannot be postponed). 

Having a specialist and neutral forum to quickly resolve sporting disputes in a fair and consistent manner helps reduce, as far as possible, the disruption disputes can cause. CAS has been successful in doing this, becoming the dominant dispute resolution forum for sports disputes.

Our expertise

With offices in many of the world’s major arbitration centres, including London, Paris, Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, we are ideally placed to work with you both to prevent and to resolve disputes as they arise, whatever the law, language, rules, industry sector, or subject matter of that dispute may be. Our dedicated multicultural and multilingual specialists conduct arbitrations under both civil and common law systems and regularly act in arbitration-related domestic court proceedings.

Whether you are a state, a state-owned entity, a sovereign wealth fund, a corporate, a sports federation or authority, private business or individual, our strategically focused specialists will work alongside you through every aspect of any arbitration. Please contact Thomas Snider or your usual Charles Russell Speechly LLP contact if you would like to get in touch.