The Rules governing the CAS Anti-Doping and Ad Hoc Divisions at the Olympic Games

Abstract

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has been adjudicating on a variety of disputes arising on the occasion of the Olympic Games (OG) through its CAS Ad Hoc Divisions since 1996. Over the years, it has dealt with qualification matters, doping and other disciplinary issues, primarily as a last instance body. The main particularity of the CAS Ad Hoc Divisions is that it provides athletes and federations with free access to justice within very short deadlines (generally, within 24 hours from lodging the claim or in accordance with the competition schedule). The Rio Games marked the first time in the history of CAS where the international sports tribunal was in charge of doping-related matters as a first-instance authority (through its newly established CAS Anti-Doping Division, ADD). The paper analyses the newly established procedural rules of the CAS ADD as they were applied and interpreted by the CAS Panels at the Rio OG. The ADD rules are then systematically compared to the “general” CAS Ad Hoc Division rules, the CAS Procedural Rules of the (permanent) CAS in Lausanne (the CAS Code) and the IOC Anti-Doping Rules for Rio 2016, with a view to better understanding some procedural issues related to jurisdiction, applicable law and provisional measures at the CAS ad hoc divisions. The paper also contains various statistics on the CAS Ad Hoc procedures (including the Rio OG).

Keywords: Court of Arbitration for Sport; procedural rules; jurisdiction; Olympic Games; doping; anti-doping tribunal; applicable law; provisional measures; CAS Ad Hoc Division