Regarding to setbacks in the world of sports arising from COVID-19, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have made some adjustments on Article R31 and Article R32 of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the Code) on 16 March 2020. The previous version of Article 31 §3 specifies that any written submissions such as the arbitration requests and the statement of appeal should be submitted to the CAS Court Office as a hard copy, by the delivery and courier services, otherwise the CAS shall not proceed. If the documents are transmitted by fax or e-mail to the official CAS e-mail address (procedures@tas-cas.org), the submissions are also valid starting from the day CAS have received the documents via e-mail, as long as the written submissions and its copies (one for each parties and arbitrators, and one additional copy for CAS itself) are also filed by courier within the first subsequent business day of the relevant time limit.

Due to the living conditions being disrupted because of COVID-19, such as transportation difficulties, necessity of social-distancing etc. CAS has decided to allow the parties to upload the above-mentioned written submissions and its copies to the CAS E-FILING PLATFORM within the first subsequent business day of the relevant time limit. The accession to the platform is via https://www.tas-cas.org/en/e-filing/e-filing.html. Parties should get a password before uploading the documents.

The other paragraphs of Article R31 remain unchanged.

Another adjustment is on Article R32 §2 about the time limit extension provided in the Procedural Rules, because of the probable delays due to COVID-19. According to the changes made on Article R32 §2, “with the exception of the time limit for the statement of appeal, any request for a first extension of time extended from 5 days to maximum of 2 WEEKS that can be decided by the CAS Secretary General without consultation with the other party or parties”[1]. In addition, parties can compromise about the suspension of proceedings up to a certain date. Then, the CAS Court Office would issue a letter confirming such suspension.

The other paragraphs of Article R32 remain unchanged.

Starting from 16 March 2020, foregoing adjustments will be in force until at least 1 May 2020 (incl.)

Additionally, CAS will not have any face to face hearing before 1 May 2020, at the earliest. Depending upon the conditions of every individual case, the arbitrators and parties are encouraged to carry out hearings by video-conference or to call them off. (final award based on the written submissions). In the event of such measures are not applicable or suitable, the hearings must be deferred until May 2020 or later. Depending on situation of the Covid-19 outbreak, the forbiddance of in-person hearings might be extended as well.

[1] THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) EMERGENCY GUIDELINES Lausanne, 16 March 2020