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The right of free movement for EU nationals in Switzerland in the domain of amateur sport: CEP Cortaillod v Swiss Athletics

2016; University of Westminster; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.16997/eslj.38

1748-944X

Yann Hafner,

Digitalization, Law, and Regulation

On the 13 June 2008, the Court of First Instance of Bern-Laupen, Switzerland, rendered a judgment concerning the right of free movement for EU nationals in Switzerland in the domain of amateur sport. This judgment is the first in Switzerland concerning solely non-professional athletes, and possibly one of the first in Europe.This paper analyzes the application by the Court of the principle of prohibition of discrimination based on nationality in light of the Bilateral Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and Switzerland, and the limits of such principle. In this respect, the Court noted that quotas imposed on foreign athletes are not automatically illegal in amateur sport, but must remain limited to their proper objective in order to be acceptable, i.e. that in a team competition the number of foreign athletes should not be more than half of the team.