General·International Regulations·Court of Arbitration for Sports
Download the Code (2004 edition)
The 2004 edition of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration; the earliest edition available in this collection, containing the Court's two-division structure and the "consultation proceedings".
| Edition | 2004 edition |
| Adopting body | International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) — pursuant to Article S6 |
| Structure | 26 statutory articles (S1 to S26) + 43 procedural articles (R27 to R69) |
| Status | Superseded — the earliest edition available in this collection |
What is the Code of Sports-related Arbitration?
The Code of Sports-related Arbitration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) brings two instruments together in a single text: the Statutes of the Bodies Working for the Settlement of Sports-related Disputes (Articles S1 to S26), which establish and organise the International Council of Arbitration for Sport and the Court itself, and the Procedural Rules (Articles R27 to R70), which govern ordinary arbitration proceedings, appeal arbitration proceedings and mediation. The Court is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its awards may be challenged only before the Swiss Federal Tribunal, within thirty days and subject to the conditions laid down in Swiss law.
About the 2004 edition
Features of this edition
- Two-division structureIn this edition the Court consists of two divisions: the Ordinary Arbitration Division and the Appeals Arbitration Division. The Anti-Doping Division was added years later, in the 2019 edition.
- Consultation proceedingsArticles R60 to R62 provided for a procedure under which sports bodies could request an advisory opinion from the Court. This procedure was removed entirely in the 2010 edition and has not returned in any edition since.
- Agreements predating the 1994 reformsArticle R67 clarifies the position of arbitration agreements concluded before 22 November 1994, the date from which the Paris reforms and the Court's independence from the International Olympic Committee took effect.
Who this document matters to
Every case that reaches international arbitration from international federations, national Olympic committees or anti-doping bodies ultimately arrives at this text: clubs and federations in transfer disputes and financial claims, athletes facing a disciplinary decision or a doping suspension, and clients and sports lawyers drafting appeal briefs and observing time limits. The point that proves decisive in practice: under Article R67, each proceeding is governed by the edition in force on the date the proceeding was commenced, not by the edition published today. Pending cases likewise remain subject to the earlier rules, unless both parties request application of the new ones. For that reason, access to the text of earlier editions has practical importance.