General·International Regulations·Court of Arbitration for Sports
Download the Code 2012 edition, amended on 01.01.12
The edition the Court has published under the title 2012; Article R67 of the text itself sets its entry into force at 1 January 2010, and its most significant change is the complete removal of the consultative proceedings.
| In force from | 1 January 2010 — pursuant to Article R67 |
| Adopting body | International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) — pursuant to Article S6 |
| Structure | 26 statutory articles (S1 to S26) + 44 procedural articles (R27 to R70) |
| Status | Superseded — replaced by the March 2013 edition |
What are the Code of Sports-related Arbitration?
The Code of Sports-related Arbitration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) brings two documents 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 seated in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its awards may be challenged, subject to the conditions laid down in Swiss law, within thirty days before the Swiss Federal Tribunal alone.
About the 2010 / 2012 editionChanges from 2004
Key changes from the previous edition
- Removal of the consultative proceedingsArticles R60 to R62, which governed the advisory opinion procedure, have been repealed in this edition, with only the word "Repealed" appearing under their heading. Sports bodies may no longer request an advisory opinion from the Court, and the Court's jurisdiction is confined to contentious proceedings.
- Addition of Article R70An article was added stating that the Procedural Rules may be amended by decision of the Council in accordance with Article S8; that is, the mechanism for amending the Code was made explicit within the text itself.
Who this document matters to
Every case that reaches international arbitration from international federations, national Olympic committees or anti-doping organisations 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 is 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 rules. For that reason, access to the text of earlier editions has practical importance.