Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is an arbitration body set up to settle disputes involving, either directly or indirectly, the area of sports. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
It was originally conceived by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch to more efficiently and effectively deal with disputes arising during the Olympics and was part of the IOC starting in 1984. However, in 1994, an appelant to the court filed an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (Switzerland's highest court), challenging the court's impartiality. The Federal Tribunal ruled that the CAS was a true court of arbitration but drew attention to the numerous links which existed between the CAS and the IOC. As a result, the CAS underwent reforms to make itself completely independent of the IOC. The biggest change resulting from this reform was the creation of an "International Council of Arbitration for Sport" (ICAS) to look after the running and financing of the CAS, thereby taking the place of the IOC.
Generally speaking, a dispute may be submitted to the CAS only if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties which specifies recourse to the CAS. Currently, all Olympic International Federations but one, and many National Olympic Committees have recognised the jurisdiction of the CAS and included in their statutes an arbitration clause referring disputes to it.
Its arbitrators are all high level jurists and it is generally held in high regard in the international sports community.
