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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14602 | 06 July 2018
Working towards a framework for modern sports governance
1. The Committee of Ministers has carefully
examined Recommendation
2120 (2018) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe on “Working towards a framework for modern sports governance”
and has brought it to the attention of the member States. It has
also forwarded it to the Enlarged Partial Agreement of Sport (EPAS),
the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the European
Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG), for possible comments.
2. The Committee of Ministers recognises the importance of a
consensus on the setting-up of a comprehensive framework for modern
sports governance. The Council of Europe has broad expertise in
the field of good governance, reflected in particular in the 12
Principles of Good Democratic Governance at local level, which could
be taken into account in the codes and standards on good sports
governance.
3. The Assembly refers to the work of EPAS whose agenda attaches
paramount importance to the promotion of good governance in sport
and the collection of data on corruption in sport, and to its contribution to
the activities of the “International Partnership against Corruption
in Sport” (IPACS), whose Task Force 3 it co-ordinates. It also co-ordinates
an international working group tasked with drawing up guidelines
for the defence of integrity in sport, as provided for in the “Kazan
Action Plan”, adopted in July 2017 by the International Conference
of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education
and Sport. Lastly, EPAS is preparing the 15th Council
of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for sport, which will be
taking place in Tbilisi on 16 October 2018 and will focus part of
its debates on good governance.
4. The Committee of Ministers closely follows and welcomes the
activities of EPAS. It encourages member States which are not yet
members of this enlarged partial agreement to consider acceding
to it. It invites EPAS to take account of the Assembly’s recommendations
when drawing up the draft recommendation on good governance in sport.
On the other hand, it believes that it is too early at this stage
to start work on a new Council of Europe convention on good governance
in sport.
5. It underlines the importance of the Council of Europe’s Criminal
Law Convention on corruption which includes provisions relating
to the criminalisation of corruption in the private sector, and
of the work of GRECO, which monitors its implementation and also
includes the governance of sport. GRECO shares its expertise within
the IPACS working group and published a Summary Analysis of Selected
Private Sector Bribery Cases in September 2017, highlighting some
of the systemic shortfalls preventing an effective prosecution of
private corruption, including in the field of sports.
6. The Committee of Ministers thanks the Assembly for its commitment
to good governance in sport and encourages it to continue working
to prevent corruption and to promote ethics in the governance of
sport. It particularly welcomes the Parliamentary Assembly’s work
to compare 15 codes and standards of good governance, which could
serve as a basis for IPACS to draw up universal benchmarks. The
way in which these benchmarks should be enacted and implemented
by the stakeholders concerned, including via a possible ISO standard,
will be addressed in this context.
7. On this basis, and drawing on its standards and networks on
sport, good governance and anti-corruption, and its special co-operation
with the sports movement, the Council of Europe is in an excellent
position to facilitate worldwide progress in the field of good sports
governance.