Review of the Draft Law on Sports Clubs and Sports Federations

PART 2: CHANGES AND INNOVATIONS FOR SPORTS FEDERATIONS

In this article, the second part of my series reviewing the Draft Law on Sports Clubs and Sports Federations, which was discussed in the Committee on National Education, Culture, Youth and Sports of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM), in light of the legislation in force and current practice, I will continue to examine the provisions concerning sports federations.

Article 32 of the draft law regulates the disciplinary boards of sports federations. Whereas Law No. 3289 provided that a disciplinary board could have no fewer than three and no more than five members, the new law regulates federation disciplinary boards in greater detail. Paragraph 1 of the article defines the jurisdiction of the disciplinary boards. A definitive answer has been given to one of the questions frequently asked in practice: it is provided that the disciplinary boards have jurisdiction over disciplinary disputes arising from competitions and activities that are included in the sports federation's activity programme or authorised by the sports federation. For example, an athlete who has been banned from competitions by a decision of the Athletics Federation Disciplinary Board will be able to take part in an athletics competition organised by the Türkiye School Sports Federation on the date of that competition. Paragraph 2 of the article provides that the members of the disciplinary board will consist of five principal and five substitute members elected by the general assembly. Paragraph 4 of the article lists the penalties that may be imposed by the disciplinary board.

Article 33 regulates the Audit Board, another board elected by the General Assembly. A paragraph that did not exist in Law No. 3289 and has been added to the new law, providing that the audit board will carry out audits at least four times in each financial year and will notify the board of directors so that the necessary action is taken on the matters identified, was already included in the articles of association of some federations.

Article 34 of the law regulates the general conditions required of the federation president and of the members of the executive, audit and disciplinary boards. With this article, certain conditions are for the first time required of the members of the executive, audit and disciplinary boards. These are as follows:

a) Being a citizen of the Republic of Türkiye.

b) Being at least a high school graduate.

c) Not having received, within the last five years, a penalty of deprivation of rights of six months at one time or one year in total from the Arbitration Board, the Ministry's sports disciplinary boards, or the disciplinary boards of national or international sports federations.

ç) Not having been convicted of an intentional offence resulting in imprisonment for one year or more, or, even if pardoned, of any of the following offences: offences against the security of the State, offences against the constitutional order and the functioning of that order, embezzlement, extortion, bribery, theft, fraud, forgery, breach of trust, fraudulent bankruptcy, bid rigging, rigging the performance of an obligation, laundering of proceeds of crime, financing of terrorism, smuggling, offences against sexual inviolability, prostitution, manufacture and trafficking of narcotic or stimulant substances, facilitating the use of narcotic or stimulant substances, purchasing, accepting or possessing narcotic or stimulant substances for use, or using narcotic or stimulant substances, match-fixing or incentive bonuses, unlawfully operating betting and games of chance based on sports competitions, providing a place and facilities for their operation, advertising them, acting as an intermediary in the transfer of money, or contravening Article 20 of this Law.

In addition to the above, the article introduces conditions that apply to candidates for federation president. These are as follows:

d) Having the written support of at least fifteen per cent of the general assembly delegates.

e) Paying the candidacy fee set by the sports federation, not exceeding the amount to be determined by the Ministry.

These conditions for federation president candidates had been regulated in the regulation on the working procedures and principles of independent sports federations. However, the relevant provisions were annulled by the decision of the Tenth Chamber of the Council of State, Merits No. 2013/4591, Decision No. 2016/1782. With the new law, the annulled provisions have been incorporated into the law, thereby preventing those who wish to become federation president from standing as candidates without the written support of fifteen per cent of the delegates and without paying the candidacy fee. Five members of parliament filed a dissenting opinion on this article, stating that the requirement of the written support of fifteen per cent of the delegates should be reduced to five per cent.

Paragraph 3 of Article 34 of the law provides that a person may serve as president of the same sports federation for a maximum of three terms, whether consecutive or non-consecutive. The rationale for this article states that, taking into account that the office of federation president is honorary in nature and that a federation which has the same president for a long time becomes cumbersome and cannot adapt to the rapidly changing dynamics of sport, a provision has been made that a person may serve as president for a maximum of three terms, consecutive or non-consecutive, in order to establish and sustain a democratic structure in sports federations. If one looks at the presidents of federations with high sporting success, it will be seen that they have served as federation president for three or more terms. For this reason, I would like to state that I do not agree with the rationale of the article and that I would have preferred that the limitation in the article not be introduced.

Paragraph 4 of Article 34 of the law provides that the memberships and managerial positions in sports clubs of those who hold paid or honorary positions in sports federations will end automatically as from the date they take up their duties. It also provides that the rights arising from club membership and management positions of those whose duties in sports federations have ended will be protected. This article introduces a new restrictive provision.

Article 37 of the law provides that the provincial representatives of sports federations will be appointed, within the conditions required under the first paragraph of Article 34, on the proposal of the federation president and with the approval of the Ministry. No dissenting opinion was filed on this provision; in my view, however, the appointment of provincial representatives with the approval of the Ministry will increase the Ministry's influence over the federations.

Article 38 of the law adds to the duties and powers of the federations the following: carrying out the necessary work on infrastructure, in coordination with the Ministry, in order to train performance athletes at national and international level; preparing annual and four-year strategic plans; using the Ministry's information systems; auditing, from a sporting perspective, the sports clubs and sports joint-stock companies in the sports branches affiliated with them; and performing other duties specified by regulation.

I will examine the subsequent articles of the law in my article to be published next week.