General·International Regulations·Court of Arbitration for Sports
Download the Code 2016 edition (in force from 01.01.16)
- In force from
- 2016/01/01
The January 2016 edition of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration; it tightened the professional requirements for arbitrators and allowed the Court to identify arbitrators with specific expertise for particular types of dispute.
| In force from | 1 January 2016 — under Article R67 |
| Adopting body | International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) — under Article S6 |
| Structure | 26 statutory articles (S1 to S26) + 44 procedural articles (R27 to R70) |
| Status | Superseded — replaced by the January 2017 edition |
What is 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, only before the Swiss Federal Tribunal within thirty days.
About the January 2016 editionChanges from March 2013
Key changes from the previous edition
- Requirements for the appointment of arbitrators (Article S14)The former wording, under which the Council "shall call upon personalities" in drawing up the list, was replaced by the express statement that "the Council shall appoint personalities to the list of arbitrators", and the requirements were set out: appropriate legal training, recognised competence with regard to sports law and/or international arbitration, a good knowledge of sport, and a good command of at least one of the working languages of the Court.
- List of specialist arbitratorsFor the first time it was provided that the Council may identify arbitrators with specific expertise to deal with certain types of dispute; a precursor to the specialist lists that took on a more prominent role in later editions.
- Interpretation at the party's own expenseIf a hearing is held, the Panel may allow a party to speak in a language other than the language of the arbitration, provided that it arranges interpretation at its own expense.
Who this document matters to
Every case that reaches international arbitration from international federations, national Olympic committees or anti-doping organisations ends up governed by 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 a statement of appeal and observing the time limits. The point that is decisive in practice: under Article R67, every proceeding is governed by the edition that was 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 the application of the new ones. For that reason, access to the text of earlier editions has practical importance.