An Essay on Access to Fair Trial Before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

The CAS which was established by the International Olympic Committee with the idea of becoming the “Hague Court for Sport” in 1984, is now around 600 cases per year. As its founders had intended, CAS has gone through the path of becoming a global institution, the judgments of which the international community of sport can rely on. The structure and rules of proceedings of the CAS has been amended several times during the past 4 decades of its existence, nonetheless, issues related to the principle of fair trial, including compulsory jurisdiction of the CAS, holding proceedings in public and most importantly independence and impartiality has always been amongst the challenges confronted by the CAS. By briefly addressing the basis of the need to apply the procedural safeguards by the Court of Arbitration for Sports in its proceedings, this essay analyzes the extent to which these safeguards are applied by the Court and concludes that there exists serious shortcomings with regards to the application of these rights by the Court.