Unfortunately, even within the scope of professional sports activities, situations often occur when contractual parties, i.e. in the vast majority of cases, a sports club or association on the one hand, and a professional athlete on the other, are unable to resolve specific disputed issues amicably out of court, and so it is the turn of the proceedings before an independent third party. In this article, we will focus more closely on one of the offshoots of such a method of resolving disputes, namely arbitration, specifically conducted before By the Board of Referees of the Football Association of the Czech Republic (hereinafter "FACR").

FACR Rules of Procedure

The basic legal regulation governing the course of the arbitration before the Board of Arbitrators of the FAČR is FACR Rules of Procedure, which regulates the proceedings before the authorities of the FAČR and its subsidiary associations, namely in matters of competition, during reviews and during revision and control activities, as well as arbitration proceedings (hereinafter referred to as "PR"). One of the types of disputes that are resolved within the arbitration procedure in question are those arising within the membership base of the FAČR from written contracts between member clubs and players, in the case of professional contracts registered with the FAČR.

Who can decide in the arbitration

Jako arbitrator may act in this type of arbitration natural person only, which is registered in the list of arbitrators in accordance with the statutes of the FAČR and is thus a member of the Board of Arbitrators. He decides in the first instance of arbitration three-member panel of judges, then in the second stage five-member arbitration panel.

Submission of proposal

The place for submission of motions to initiate arbitration is seat of FAČR. The proposal is submitted in paper form, namely to the hands of the arbitration secretary. The participants in the proceedings can state decisive facts about the matter itself and mark the evidence to prove them no later than 7 days before the first oral hearing on the matter, or until the expiry of the additional period. The arbitral panel may take into account facts and evidence marked later, only if they are facts or evidence that the participant could not present in time through no fault of their own, or if they are facts or evidence that the participants presented after one of them was called upon to supplement the decisive facts.

Initiation of proceedings

Arbitration is commenced on the date of delivery of the proposal for initiation of arbitration proceedings, which fulfills the foreseen requirements, or on the date of elimination of the detected design defects. The parties to the proceedings are the petitioner and the respondent. If proceedings are initiated on the basis of the proposal, the secretary of the arbitration proceedings shall send this proposal, including its annexes and attached evidence, to the respondent with an invitation to submit his written response to this proposal within 14 days from its delivery, including the identification of the evidence to which he calls for proof of his claims.

Proceedings in the matter

The secretary of the arbitration proceedings will inform the participants of the proceedings on the basis of the instructions of the arbitration panel about the time and place of the oral hearing by summons, which is to the parties to the proceedings sent at least fourteen days in advance. The parties to the proceedings always have the right to participate in oral proceedings, or their representatives based on power of attorney.

The participants in the proceedings are obliged to prove the alleged facts that they refer to when asserting their claims or objections, as well as in their other claims. It does so primarily with documentary evidence and, in the case of proceedings with negotiations, also, for example, with the statements of the parties to the proceedings and witnesses. The arbitration panel evaluates the evidence at its discretion.

Decision

The arbitration panel makes the decision arbitration award or resolution. The arbitration panel is bound by the announced decision, with the exception of the resolution regulating the conduct of the proceedings. In the statement of the decision, which imposes an obligation on the parties to the proceedings, the arbitration panel also determines the deadline for this performance. Deadline for fulfillment it begins to run from the moment of legal effect of the decision. The arbitration panel will recognize the participant in the proceedings who was fully successful in the case reimbursement of arbitration costs against the participant who was not successful in the matter. If each of the parties to the proceedings was partially successful in the dispute, the arbitration panel will award each of them compensation for the costs of the proceedings according to their success, or declare that none of the parties to the proceedings is entitled to reimbursement of costs.

Appeal

A participant in the proceedings may challenge the decision of the arbitration panel issued in the arbitration in accordance with the Rules of Procedure by appeal. The rules on proceedings before the arbitration panel in the first instance shall be applied mutatis mutandis to the arbitration proceedings before the appellate arbitration panel. The arbitration before the appellate arbitral panel must be conducted in such a way that it can be legally terminated within 9 months from the date of initiation of the entire arbitration.

An appeal can generally be filed within 21 days from the delivery of the challenged arbitration award. Appeal has a delaying effect.

The chairman of the Board of Arbitrators of the FAČR, or the appellate arbitral panel, if it has already been established, will reject the appeal if it was filed late, by an unauthorized person or by a person who re-filed an appeal that he had already explicitly withdrawn in the same matter. If the appeal was not rejected, or if the proceedings were not stopped, the appellate arbitration panel will decide on the appeal by confirming the challenged decision, if it is factually correct, or changing the contested decision. No appeal is admissible within the FAČR against the decision of the appellate arbitration panel.

záver

The above summary represents a basic outline of the course of the arbitration itself before the Board of Arbitrators of the FAČR, i.e. one of the associations with the largest membership base.

Source: epravo.cz

You need legal advice from the area sports law? Our law firm is ready to guide you through all the pitfalls of this type of dispute procedure, right up to its successful conclusion.

JUDr. Miroslav Různar, attorney