Professional Sport In The Eu Regulation And Re Regulation

This book comes at a critical time for the future development of sports law. It examines key issues of both contemporary and future importance to the administration of sporting activity in the European Union. The book is par ticularly pertinent coming at a time when European Community law is playing a key role in the restructuring of football's transfer system. This forms only one small, though highly significant, part of the fundamental shift that has taken place in European professional sport; away from the self-regulatory autonomy of sporting bodies towards a system more rigidly codified and governed by main stream legal norms and rules. The law, in particular the economic freedoms provided for under the Treaty of Rome, has become a key weapon in the armoury of those who wish to exploit sport to its full commercial potential, free of self-regulatory constraints. It is not only those desirous of exploiting the economic potential of sport, who have made use of European Community law. As sport has become increasingly com mercialised and commodified, it has also attracted the attention of the institutions of the Community, which have been keen to ensure that sports regulations adhere to Community law.

This book comes at a critical time for the future development of sports law. It examines key issues of both contemporary and future importance to the administration of sporting activity in the European Union. The book is par ticularly pertinent coming at a time when European Community law is playing a key role in the restructuring of football's transfer system. This forms only one small, though highly significant, part of the fundamental shift that has taken place in European professional sport; away from the self-regulatory autonomy of sporting bodies towards a system more rigidly codified and governed by main stream legal norms and rules. The law, in particular the economic freedoms provided for under the Treaty of Rome, has become a key weapon in the armoury of those who wish to exploit sport to its full commercial potential, free of self-regulatory constraints. It is not only those desirous of exploiting the economic potential of sport, who have made use of European Community law. As sport has become increasingly com mercialised and commodified, it has also attracted the attention of the institutions of the Community, which have been keen to ensure that sports regulations adhere to Community law.

With a Foreword by Dr Michal Krejza, Head of Sport Unit, Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Commission, Brussels Much has changed since the publication of Professional Sport in the EU: Regulation and Re-regulation (edited by Andrew Caiger and Simon Gardiner, The Hague, T.M.C. Asser Press 2000). The present book explores new territory and its scope and tone reflect the maturity of the discipline of EU sports law and policy. The book seeks to balance contributions from established authorities and the best of the new generation of sports law and policy academics. New theoretical insights are revealed which accompany in particular two further sections dealing first with governance and regulatory issues (also including freedom of movement and competition law issues) and second with questions of representation. The issue of the representation of stakeholders within sports governance structures (Social Dialogue between employers/clubs and employees/players) is arguably the most significant development in the last decade and the inclusion of the word ‘Representation’ in the title is merited. Contributions on anti-doping, football hooliganism and sports betting are added to the book. The editing team consisted of Simon Gardiner, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom, Richard Parrish, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom, and Robert Siekmann, ASSER International Sports Law Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands. This book appears in the ASSER International Sports Law Series, under the editorship of Robert Siekmann and Janwillem Soek.

I am honoured to have been invited to write the foreword to this book. Since the publi- tion of Professional Sport in the EU: Regulation and Re-regulation (edited by Andrew Caiger and Simon Gardiner, T.M.C. Asser Press 2000), there have been a number of dev- opments in the European Union in sports law, both in the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. The most significant of these was probably the adoption by the Commission of the White Paper on Sport on 11 July 2007. The White Paper takes stock of the acquis communautaire – the rather prodigious body of European Law including judgements and preliminary rulings of the ECJ – in the sports field and sets out the position of the Commission on three significant aspects of European sport: its societal role, its economic dimension, and its governance. The White Paper also contains concrete proposals for further EU action as part of an Action Plan named after Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

Globalization not only means fans watching distant contests and leagues exporting their products elsewhere; it also means the ability of knowledgeable academics and policy-oriented fans to learn about how others confront similar challenges. North Americans who realize on reflection that the way we do things is not necessarily natural or the only way will enjoy and profit from the insightful comparative essays in this book. The so-called European Model of Sport is quite different than our own. There are significant parallels between the European effort to distinguish sport and commerce and our own efforts in regard to big-time collegiate sports. The unusual (for North American fans of typical sports leagues) issues with regard to auto racing are quite instructive. A truly horizon-expanding work. Stephen F. Ross, Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research, US The purpose of this book is to examine, from an EU perspective, the numerous developments which have taken place in the regulation of sporting activity in the last decade. Uniquely, in addressing these developments, the book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, involving law, economics and sociology. The chapters place the regulation of sport in the context of the EU regulatory structure which hitherto has emerged in a piece-meal fashion and thus warrants a more holistic approach. The chapters bring together several key themes which arise from the question of whether sport is special? This addresses a growing argument that sporting activity displays unique properties which require a distinct form of regulation that existing competition or free movement rules cannot provide. The book is divided into three parts which reflect the current policy, legislative and judicial discourses that exists in the regulation of sport. The Regulation of Sport in the European Union provides both an academic and practical review of EU law and policy as applied to sport, and as such, this comprehensive overview will be of great interest to EU law academics, economists and political scientists. It will also appeal to legal practitioners and to those with an interest in regulatory processes in the EU.

Sport is recreational, social, educational, healthful, and cultural. It has always been all of these things. Perhaps also it has always been political. In recent years, however, it has become something else besides: economic. Nowadays a lot of money is invested in sport, and sporting competitions often generate enormous amounts of revenue. This has entailed serious repercussions, especially for the relations between individual sportsmen/sportswomen and the sporting clubs and federations that act as brokers for their careers. Into this protected area for decades a closed shop now come the European institutions, especially the European Court of Justice and the European Commission, with the declared intention of ensuring respect for the exigencies of Community law while at the same time protecting the specificity and the integrity of sport. This important book presents an in-depth analysis of the viability under Community law of traditional sports regulations such as transfer rules and nationality clausesboth sets of rules seriously compromised by the Bosman case of 1995. The author asks in particular whether certain rules elaborated by sporting associations can withstand the test of compatibility with the free movement provisions of the EC Treaty. In the light of Bosman, he also rigorously investigates: whether valuable arguments exist for keeping certain sporting rules and practices entirely outside the scope of the EC Treaty; and whether the private nature of sporting clubs constitutes a stumbling block for the application of the relevant free movement rules. Practical Regulation of the Mobility of Sportsmen in the EU Post Bosman comes at a moment when clarification of where this complex and contentious matter currently lies is essential if we are to gauge where it is going. The topic is of special and increasing interest, as official declarations on sport were attached to the Treaties of both Amsterdam and Nice. And, if the draft Constitution for Europe actually enters into force, sport will even become an official area of Union policy. This trend confirms the value and significance of this ground-breaking book for practitioners, policymakers, and regulators in the burgeoning field of sports law. European Monographs 48

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this practical analysis of sports law in the European Union deals with the regulation of sports activity by both public authorities and private sports organizations. The growing internationalization of sports inevitably increases the weight of global regulation, yet each country maintains its own distinct regime of sports law and its own national and local sports organizations. Sports law at a national or organizational level thus gains a growing relevance in comparative law. The book describes and discusses both state-created rules and autonomous self-regulation regarding the variety of economic, social, commercial, cultural, and political aspects of sports activities. Self- regulation manifests itself in the form of by-laws, and encompasses organizational provisions, disciplinary rules, and rules of play. However, the trend towards more professionalism in sports and the growing economic, social and cultural relevance of sports have prompted an increasing reliance on legal rules adopted by public authorities. This form of regulation appears in a variety of legal areas, including criminal law, labour law, commercial law, tax law, competition law, and tort law, and may vary following a particular type or sector of sport. It is in this dual and overlapping context that such much-publicized aspects as doping, sponsoring and media, and responsibility for injuries are legally measured. This monograph fills a gap in the legal literature by giving academics, practitioners, sports organizations, and policy makers access to sports law at this specific level. Lawyers representing parties with interests in the European Union will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative sports law.

Investigates the birth of EU sports law and policy by examining the impact of the Bosman ruling and other European Court of Justice decisions, the relationship between sport and EU competition law, the organization of sport, and the relationship between sport and the EU Treaty.