Print
See related documents
Recommendation 1997 (2012) Final version
The need to combat match-fixing
1. Referring to its Resolution 1876 (2012) on
the need to combat match-fixing, the Parliamentary Assembly wishes
to draw the attention of the Committee of Ministers to this organised
crime issue, which raises a genuine problem for the entire sports
movement.
2. The Assembly considers the Council of Europe to be the best
placed organisation to deal effectively with the question of the
preservation of European sport as an expression of democracy, fundamental
rights and social cohesion. Furthermore, a pan-European, or even
global, approach is needed in order to combat effectively the bribery
of people involved in sport as well as match-fixing.
3. The Council of Europe, together with the International Olympic
Committee (IOC), should continue to have a leading role in the search
for effective ways of combating this phenomenon and should advocate constructive
dialogue between the stakeholders in order to achieve the desired
result together.
4. The Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption
(ETS No. 173) and the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering,
Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and
on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198) should be used as major
standard-setting reference points in the definition of the mechanisms
and legal means needed to combat the criminal organisations which
bribe persons involved in sport in order to manipulate sports results,
and thereby use sports betting as a means of laundering money and
as a source of financing for their activities.
5. Consequently, the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers
to:
5.1. support the work being
done by the members of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) on
the drafting of a European convention on match-fixing, based on
Recommendation CM/Rec(2011)10 on promotion of the integrity of sport
to fight against manipulation of results, notably match-fixing;
this convention, which should be prepared as a matter of urgency,
should aim at establishing an appropriate general legislative framework,
taking into account the findings of the feasibility study presented
in February 2012;
5.2. stipulate that the Additional Protocol to the Criminal
Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 191) also applies to national
and foreign match officials in accordance with the idea set out
in Assembly Opinion 241
(2002);
5.3. create an ad hoc committee responsible for:
5.3.1. identifying
the good practices and legal tools needed to prevent and combat
corruption in sport and match-fixing, on the basis of the methods,
experience and expertise of the Group of States against Corruption
(GRECO) and of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money
Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL);
5.3.2. studying the possibility of harmonisation of European
legislation on sports betting, taking account of the legislation
and prerogatives of the European Union, and drawing up guidelines
in this respect;
5.3.3. studying the possibility of extending the field of application
of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption in order to include,
in clear terms, cases of bribery of persons involved in sport;
5.3.4. defining a minimum framework in order to establish sports
fraud as a criminal offence in different countries;
5.4. promote effective co-ordination, at international level,
of the fight against match-fixing.