POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Łukasz Klimczyk, Maciej Skrzypek, Beata Danel-Skrzypek and Piotr Klepuszewski, SLK Partners
6.3 Sanctions, Remedies and Challenges Polish sports federations exercise broad regulatory powers derived from the Polish Sports Act as well as their internal statutes and regulations. Within the framework of sports autonomy, these bodies are authorised to establish and enforce both sporting and financial sanctions applicable to participants in the sports system. Under the Polish Sports Act, disciplinary regulations adopted by Polish sports federations may provide, in particular, for the following sanctions: • warnings; • reprimands; • suspensions; • temporary or lifetime disqualification; • financial penalties; • relegation of a team to a lower competition divi - sion; • removal from federation membership; and/or • expulsion from the federation. A party dissatisfied with a decision issued by a Pol - ish sports federation typically has the right to lodge an internal appeal within the organisation. In practice, exhaustion of internal remedies is usually a prerequi - site for further challenges. Subsequently, final decisions of Polish sports federa - tions may be appealed to the national sports arbitra - tion body (the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Pol - ish Olympic Committee) or, in certain circumstances, to state courts. 7. Employment Contracts and Rights 7.1 Sports-Related Employment Contracts Polish law does not recognise a specific legal category of a “sports contract”. The legal relationship between athletes and sports organisations therefore depends on the level of professionalisation of the discipline. In practice, athletes are most commonly engaged under civil law agreements for the provision of sports services (governed by the Civil Code), which regulate both sporting performance and promotional or image-
from statutory regulations as well as the internal rules of national and international sports federations. Within the exclusive competence granted to them under the Polish Sports Act to establish and imple - ment sporting, organisational and disciplinary rules (with the exception of anti-doping matters), Polish sports federations develop their own systems for dis - pute resolution and disciplinary enforcement. These mechanisms typically cover: • licensing disputes and eligibility to participate in competitions; • contractual disputes; and • disciplinary matters. In practice, participants in sport are required to use these internal procedures on the basis of federation statutes and regulations. Independently of internal federation mechanisms, the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Polish Olympic Committee operates as a permanent arbitration court under the Polish Sports Act. The Court is competent to hear disputes: • falling within its jurisdiction on the basis of an arbitration agreement, including arbitration clauses contained in the statutes of Polish sports federa - tions or in the corporate regulations of other sports organisations, or on the basis of a separate arbitra - tion submission; and • arising from appeals against final disciplinary deci - sions issued by Polish sports federations. The principal legal acts governing sports dispute reso - lution include: • the Polish Code of Civil Procedure – regulating arbitration and mediation; • the Polish Sports Act – granting regulatory and disciplinary powers to Polish sports federations; • the Polish Act on Combating Doping in Sport – granting the POLADA authority to establish and enforce anti-doping rules in Poland.
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