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Opinion 287 (2014) Final version
Draft Council of Europe convention on the manipulation of sports competitions
1. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes
the draft Council of Europe convention on the manipulation of sports
competitions. It points out that it unreservedly supported the initiative
taken under the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) to draft
such a convention and refers in this context to Assembly Recommendation 1997 (2012) on
the need to combat match-fixing, unanimously adopted on 25 April
2012. The Assembly was subsequently involved in the work of the
drafting group responsible for drawing up the draft convention.
2. The international dimension of the manipulation of sports
competitions requires a global approach to tackling the problem.
The Assembly therefore welcomes the fact that it will be possible
for non-member States of the Council of Europe to become parties
to the future convention.
3. The Assembly is convinced that the future convention must
have a broad scope in order to cover all the various forms and aspects
of the manipulation of sports competitions. Accordingly, it approves
of the definition of such manipulation given in Article 3 of the
draft convention, which will make it possible to prosecute all practices
intentionally aimed at improperly influencing the uncertainty inherent
in a sports competition with a view to obtaining an undue advantage
for oneself or for others.
4. The Assembly called for a legal instrument aimed at harmonising
national legislation and strengthening co-operation among States
and with all other stakeholders in order to ensure effective prevention,
detection and punishment of the manipulation of sports competitions.
5. The Assembly is therefore satisfied with the emphasis placed
by the draft convention on co-operation at both national and international
level and welcomes the provisions requiring parties to improve their
criminal law legislation, where necessary, to combat effectively
the manipulation of sports competitions. The Assembly notes, however,
that no time frame is laid down for adapting national legislation
and wishes to stress that this adaptation process should take place
swiftly.
6. It was essential, at this stage, to put forward balanced solutions,
calling on parties to put in place a common framework of action,
while leaving them a margin for manoeuvre, so as to take account
of specific national situations. The Assembly notes that the draft
convention satisfies this twofold requirement. Nonetheless, it considers
that certain improvements could be made as long as these improvements
do not compromise this balance.
7. The Assembly understands the difficulty inherent in requiring
parties to incorporate into their legal systems a special harmonised
offence concerning the manipulation of sports competitions. Nevertheless,
the existence of such an offence would facilitate collaboration
between States, and between the public authorities and the other
stakeholders. Consequently, the Convention Follow-up Committee should
be tasked with drawing up model provisions relating to such a harmonised
offence; States could draw on these, without, however, being obliged
to amend their criminal law.
8. The Assembly believes it is essential to link the fight against
the manipulation of sports competitions and the fight against illegal
betting. It unreservedly concurs with the choice made by the drafting
group to include this matter in the future convention and asks not
only that this choice be confirmed, but also that the wording of
Article 11 of the draft convention be improved to make the parties’
commitment in this regard more specific.
9. The Assembly notes that by virtue of Article 19.2 (combined
with Article 19.1.e) a party
may reserve the right not to establish jurisdiction (or to do so
only in specific cases or conditions) where an offence falling within the
scope of Articles 15 to 17 is committed by “a person who has his
or her habitual residence on its territory”. Availing oneself of
such a possibility would constitute a loophole in the system, hampering
the possibility to deal effectively with cases involving top-level
athletes who typically may have their residence outside their countries
of origin, and enabling those with ill intentions, or indeed criminal
organisations, to settle – and in particular set up shell companies
– on the territory of a State which had not established its jurisdiction
in respect of them with regard to offences relating to the manipulation
of sports competitions committed in another country. This would,
in addition, weaken the rule of aut dedere,
aut judicare (either extradite or prosecute) provided
for in Article 19.3 of the draft convention. Accordingly, the Assembly
believes that this possibility should be removed.
10. The Assembly appreciates the fact that the draft convention
provides for a Convention Follow-up Committee with terms of reference
enabling it to promote the practical implementation of the convention, including
by formulating recommendations to parties – in particular on the
criteria referred to in other provisions – and facilitating the
exchange of information and best practice. It is anticipated that
this committee will be assisted by the Secretariat of the Council
of Europe. However, it is essential to ensure that the effectiveness of
this mechanism is not undermined by having insufficient resources
allocated to it, whether in financial or staffing terms.
11. In the light of the foregoing, the Assembly recommends that
the Committee of Ministers rapidly finalise the text of the new
convention and open it for signature and ratification, if possible
before the end of 2014. In the context of the final revision of
the draft convention, the Assembly calls for the rejection of all
proposals that would reduce the scope of the convention or dilute
the commitments provided for in the draft and for only those proposals
which would strengthen the effectiveness of the proposed system
to be accepted.
12. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers:
12.1. amend the second
sentence of paragraph 72 of the explanatory report as follows: “This
provision also covers training of groups such as young sportspeople, civil servants,
judges or awareness raising of the general public”;
12.2. amend Article 7.2.d of
the draft convention as follows: “awareness among competition stakeholders and young sportspeople of the risk
of manipulation …”;
12.3. amend Article 9.1 of the draft convention, replacing the
words “such as”, at the end of the first sentence (before the list
of measures from a to f) with the words “including in
particular”;
12.4. amend Article 11.1 of the draft convention as follows:
“... each Party shall explore the most appropriate means to fight
operators of illegal sports betting and shall adopt effective measures ...” (such
as those listed subsequently in that article);
12.5. delete Article 19.2 of the draft convention;
12.6. amend Article 31.2 of the draft convention as follows:
“The Convention Follow-up Committee shall adopt
and modify the list of sports organisations referred to in Article
3.2, while ensuring that it is published in an appropriate manner”;
the list of other tasks in Article 31.2 (b to e) should be included in a new Article
31.3 beginning: “The Convention Follow-up Committee may, in particular:”;
12.7. supplement the above-mentioned list of tasks by adding
to the terms of reference of the Convention Follow-up Committee
that it may “draft model provisions relating to the harmonised offence of
manipulation of sports competitions”, the introduction of which
in national legal systems would nonetheless be optional.
13. Furthermore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers adopt the following amendments of a technical nature:
13.1. amend the beginning of Article
3.1 as follows: “‘Sports competition’ means any sports event organised in accordance with the
rules set by a sports organisation …” (no change required in the French
text);
13.2. amend the first sentence of Article 3.6.c as follows: “‘official’ means
any person who is the owner of, a shareholder in, an executive or
a staff member of the entities which organise and promote sports competition,
as well as referees, jury
members and any other accredited
persons”;
13.3. amend Article 9.2 as follows: “Each Party shall, at the time of signature or when depositing its
instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, by means of
a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe, communicate the names and addresses of the
authority or authorities identified in pursuance of paragraph 1
of this article. They subsequently may,
at any time and in the same manner, change the terms of their declaration”;
13.4. amend Article 13.2 as follows: “Each Party shall, at the time of signature or when depositing its
instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, by means of
a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe, communicate the name and addresses of the
national platform. They subsequently
may, at any time and in the same manner, change the terms of their declaration.”
14. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers ensure
that sufficient resources be allocated to the Convention Follow-up
Committee. Moreover, since parties will be invited to incorporate
the prevention of and the fight against the manipulation of sports
competitions into assistance programmes for the benefit of third
States, the Assembly recommends that the Council of Europe draw
up targeted co-operation programmes to support those parties that
wish to take advantage of the expertise of its bodies to reform
their systems and to facilitate, where necessary, co-ordination
of the assistance provided by other parties.
15. The Assembly calls on the governments of the Council of Europe
member States and of the other countries which took part in the
drafting of the convention to ensure that the necessary adaptation
of their national legislation and the ratification of the convention
take place swiftly. It also invites them and the European Union
to actively seek the collaboration of other countries, such as the
United States and China, whose participation would considerably
strengthen the impact of the convention, and encourage the ratification of
the convention by these countries.
16. Finally, the Assembly welcomes the positive role that the
International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Union of European Football
Associations (UEFA) and Interpol had in the negotiation process
of the draft convention and expects co-operation with these key
partners to continue and be reinforced in the implementation phase.