SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Joaquín Jofre Fernández-Abascal, Jofre Sports Law
Arbitration clauses If an athlete or club has signed a contract containing an arbitration clause, they waive their right to national civil courts. The dispute must go to a body such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) or a domestic equivalent. National courts can only intervene to annul an award on very narrow procedural grounds. Summary of Procedural Flow • Internal committees: (federation/league level) – mandatory. • TAD or ADR: (administrative or private arbitration) – mandatory to exhaust administrative route. • National courts: (civil/administrative) – final review. 6.2 ADR Mechanisms In Spain, ADR for sports disputes has evolved into a mandatory or highly encouraged prerequisite for par - ties before reaching national courts. This framework is designed to provide specialised faster, and more cost-effective solutions for the sporting community. Key ADR Mechanisms Parties can resolve disputes through several spe - cialised bodies, depending on whether the issue is administrative, disciplinary or contractual. Federation-based systems Under current law, Spanish sports federations and professional leagues are required to maintain internal systems for out-of-court dispute resolution. These systems are typically voluntary and free of charge for athletes. TAD The TAD is the final administrative authority for dis - ciplinary matters, anti-doping violations and election disputes. Its decisions exhaust administrative rem - edies, meaning they can only be appealed thereafter to the Spanish ordinary administrative courts. Governing Legislation The process is governed by a blend of specialised sports law and general procedural reforms.
their microphones would be activated for this specific purpose. Facial recognition in stadiums The AEPD recently fined LaLiga EUR1 million for failing to conduct a proper Data Protection Impact Assess - ment (DPIA) before attempting to implement biometric access control (facial recognition) in stadiums, citing it as “disproportionate”.
6. Dispute Resolution 6.1 Role of National Court Systems
In Spain, the role of national courts is defined by a strict separation between public/administrative sports law and private/commercial sports law, a distinction
sharpened by Law 39/2022 on sports. The Competence of National Courts
National courts are divided into three main branches. • Civil courts handle disputes over private contracts, intellectual property licensing, and debt claims between clubs or athletes. Since 2022, they also review private disciplinary matters that were previ - ously handled by administrative bodies. • Administrative courts review decisions made by the TAD concerning public functions, such as doping, election disputes and high-level athlete status. • Social/labour courts have exclusive jurisdiction over employment disputes. Exhaustion of Internal Remedies Administrative path For matters involving federative public functions, one must appeal through the federation’s internal com - mittees and finally to the TAD. Only after a TAD ruling is the administrative route exhausted, allowing one to file a lawsuit in the National High Court ( Audiencia Nacional ). Private/disciplinary path Under the Sports Law, federations must offer alterna - tive dispute resolution (ADR) such as conciliation or arbitration. While athletes can choose to go to civil courts, they must usually complete the federation’s internal disciplinary steps first.
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