Author:

The International Olympic Committee, Interpol & the UN Office on preventing corruption in sport.

As the world of competitive sport is slowly restarting and adapting to the ‘new normal’, the International Olympic Committee, Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have released a joint paper titled “Ensuring that integrity is at the core of sport’s response to the pandemic: Preventing corruption in sport and manipulation of competitions”.

The paper provides recommendations on how to prevent corruption and the manipulation of competitions in order to maintain integrity in sport. The recommendations are aimed at a number of stakeholders, predominantly sports organisations, law enforcement and criminal justice authorities. The paper warns that financial pressure and salary cuts may result in “criminal groups and corruptors exploiting the situation to gain influence”.

The recommendations encourage a “proactive” approach against corruption in sport and include the following recommendations:

• That organisations avoid decreasing the salaries of the most vulnerable and severely affected and that if salaries do need to be decreased that they are temporary. It is also recommended that any savings made from salary cuts for top athletes are redistributed to support the most vulnerable stakeholders.

• That “awareness-raising sessions for athletes, their entourage and sport organisations’ officials. Notably during this special period, virtual awareness raising activities can be planned” should be intensified.

• Sharing of information between law enforcement and criminal justice authorities with the relevant sporting authorities and that law enforcement investigations and disciplinary investigations “should, to the extent possible, be run in a parallel and coordinated manner”

• The enforcement of “national legislation criminalising bribery and other forms of corruption…and that these be coordinated when feasible with sporting bodies conducting relevant disciplinary measures”

The paper can be found here.

If you have any queries about this article or would like to know more about the Brandsmiths sports law team, please contact Imani Modahl on 0161 464 9237 or imani@brandsmiths.co.uk