ECUADOR Law and Practice Contributed by: Santiago José Zambrano Solano, Conlegal Sports
ed from playing football for two years, also confirmed by CAS. The new Ecuadorian Sports Law includes a defini - tion of illegal betting on sport and the regulation of all sports betting companies. 1.4 Disciplinary Framework The new Ecuadorian Sports Law includes a chapter focusing only on the disciplinary aspects of the Ecua - dorian sports system, concerning the organisation of competitions, the elections process, sports adminis - tration, etc. In Ecuador, disciplinary proceedings are followed in every national sports federation and each has the power to impose sanctions on its affiliated members. Each national sports federation should create a dis - ciplinary committee or an ethics committee, such as in the LigaPro or the Ecuadorian Football Federation, but many sports in Ecuador do not fall within such divisions. A disciplinary proceeding for doping, lack of integrity, or betting offences would include the following stages: First, the disciplinary committee of the sport’s national federation would receive notification of any miscon - duct by its affiliated members and start a disciplinary proceeding. After this, the disciplinary committee will notify the affiliated members about the disciplinary proceeding so that each person involved can defend themselves and send all the necessary documents to protect their interests. When the affiliated members send their legal defence, the disciplinary committee will summon a hearing where the parties can discuss the allegations and defence, and reach a decision. The decision can be appealed by any of the parties.
night of the team squad. This happens every year and during at least the last five years, it has attracted a lot of attention from sponsors and supporters. This has grown to be internationally attractive by pre - senting international singers and former football stars such as Carlos Tévez, Ronaldinho, Sergio Agüero and Diego Forlan, among many others. Ticket sales are also important in Ecuador because it is a customary part of local culture to go to the sta - dium at the weekend, although this has in the past been affected by problems such as violence in the stadiums, illegal ticket sales and criminality. Previously, people have posed as supporters in order to commit all kinds of violence in the stadiums. The sale of illegal tickets was also rife, with criminal gangs buying up all the tickets in advance and then resell - ing them to spectators at inflated prices outside the stadium in order to make a profit. This year, LigaPro is using a new system to identify supporters and has set up online ticket sales to prevent illegal reselling of tickets, which is prohibited by Ecuadorian Sports Law and Criminal Law. 2.2 Sponsorship Terms Sponsors are very important for sports in Ecuador, especially in football. The Olympics are also important to sponsors as they try to anticipate and negotiate with possible Olympic medallists. The most impor - tant aspect for a sponsor in Ecuador is to be affiliated to a national brand, which presents many options in football, while in other sports, sponsors try to con - nect the principal players in various sports with their companies. In Ecuador, investment in sport is encouraged through a tax benefit, which works as follows: if a company or investor spends a certain amount on a qualified sports project, at the end of that tax year, they will be entitled to deduct an additional 150% of the amount spent from their pre-tax income (eg, USD100,000 spent on a qualified sports project will allow the inves - tor a USD250,000 deduction on their income for tax purposes).
2. Commercial Rights 2.1 Sports-Related Rights
In Ecuador, key sports-related rights are the naming right of the stadiums, ticketing and the presentation
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