Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation

Advantages

The Court of Arbitration for Sport possesses all objective advantages of third-party proceedings.

To begin with, when a dispute is referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the counterparts to it may rest assured that they will get a qualified hearing by arbitrators well familiar with the specifics of disputes in physical culture and sport activities.

Third-party proceedings give counterparts to disputes an opportunity to choose arbitrators at their own discretion from among names indicated in the List of Arbitrators, which contains the names of some of the most proficient and acknowledged scientists in the field of Law, prominent sports figures and executives representing professional spots federations. The Arbitrators selected by each of the counterparts then choose the third arbitrator, or umpire, to preside over the arbitral tribunal thus formed. The arbitrators are independent from the counterparts and do not act as their representatives thus providing for objective and skilled settlements of disputes.

Disputes are resolved fast, and at low cost. The Court of Arbitration for Sport uses a summary yet sufficient procedure precluding appeals against the essence of awards, which cuts dispute arbitration time significantly. Any dispute is settled by a one-instance tribunal (or a sole arbitrator) selected by the counterparts themselves.

The fee rate charged by the Court of Arbitration for Sport is lower than the state duty rate charged by national courts of arbitration.
Besides, arbitration of sports-related disputes places more reliance on adversary proceedings.

Confidentiality is another great advantage of this body. All hearings are held in camera and any people other than the parties’ representatives, such as media crews, may be admitted to such hearings only subject to consent of the counterparts. It is the rule, rather than an exception, for the Arbitration for Sport never to make its awards public, and where it makes an exception, it does not name the counterparts involved, nor does it disclose any details allowing the counterparts to be trailed or resulting in commercial secrets disclosure.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport institutes proceedings provided only the counterparts to a dispute have a third-party agreement in writing.