REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL with a view to safeguarding current sports structures and maintaining the social function of sport within the Community framework - The Helsinki Report on Sport
Date: 1999-12-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU policy, performance drugs, social role, sport, sports body

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 10.12.1999
COM(1999) 644 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

with a view to safeguarding current sports structures and maintaining the social
function of sport within the Community framework

- The Helsinki Report on Sport –

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

2.

3.

Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3

The development of sport
in Europe risks weakening its educational and social
function ....................................................................................................................... 3

The Community, its Member States and the sporting movement need to reaffirm and
strengthen the educational and social function of sport................................................. 4

3.1. Enhancing the educational role of sport.................................................................. 4

3.2.

Joining forces to combat doping............................................................................. 5

4.

Clarifying the legal environment of sport ..................................................................... 6

4.1. The increase in the number of conflicts .................................................................. 6

4.2. The need for convergent endeavours ...................................................................... 7

4.2.1.

The Community level ................................................................................... 8

4.2.2.

The national level ......................................................................................... 9

4.2.3.

The level of sporting organisations ............................................................... 9

5.

Conclusion................................................................................................................. 10

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1.

INTRODUCTION

"Recalling the Declaration on Sport attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam and
recognising the social role of sport", the European Council, meeting in Vienna on
to the
11 and 12 December 1998, invited "the Commission to submit a report
Helsinki European Council with a view to safeguarding current sports structures and
maintaining the social function of sport within the Community framework". This
report by the Commission is the response to the European Council's invitation.

Following this invitation and in accordance with the Amsterdam Declaration,
numerous consultations were held (Olympic movement, sporting federations, sports
the
industries, media, governments and Community institutions), especially at
"European Union Conference on Sport" organised in Olympia from 20 to 23 May
1999. Sport is one of the areas of activity that most concerns and brings together the
citizens of the European Union, irrespective of age and social origin. More than half
of them regularly do sport, either in one of the 700 000 clubs that exist in the Union
or outside these clubs. Almost
instructors and voluntary
workers spend their working or leisure time organising sporting activities.

two million teachers,

This social function of sport, which is in the general interest, has for some years been
affected by the emergence of new phenomena which sometimes call into question the
ethics of sport and the principles on which it is organised, be they violence in the
stadiums, the increase in doping practices or the search for quick profits to the
detriment of a more balanced development of sport.

This report gives pointers for reconciling the economic dimension of sport with its
popular, educational, social and cultural dimensions.

2.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORT IN EUROPE RISKS WEAKENING ITS EDUCATIONAL
AND SOCIAL FUNCTION

There are many common features in the ways in which sport is practised and
organised in the Union, in spite of certain differences between the Member States,
and there is therefore possible to talk of a European approach to sport based on
common concepts and principles.

For several years, the European approach to sport has been affected by several
phenomena:

–

–

the rise in the popularity of sport in terms of the number of people doing and
watching sport. A total of 37 billion television viewers watched the matches of
the most recent football World Cup, which is nearly 600 million television
viewers per match;

the internationalisation of sport, with the increase in the number of
international competitions.
In 1999, 77 world championships and 102
European championships were organised in Europe;

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–

the spectacular

the unprecedented development of the economic dimension of sport, with, for
the value of the
example,
television rights negotiated by the IOC has risen from USD 441 million in
1992 (Barcelona Olympic Games) to an expected USD 1.318 billion for the
2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

increase in television rights:

These phenomena provide certain advantages for sport and society. Accordingly, the
number of jobs created directly or indirectly by the sport industry has risen by 60%
in the past ten years to reach nearly 2 million. It has to be recognised, however, that
these phenomena may also cause tension.

One of the first signs of these developments is the overloading of sporting calendars,
which, linked to the need to produce results under the pressure of sponsors, may be
considered to be one of the causes of the expansion of doping.

A second consequence is the increase in the number of lucrative sporting events,
which may end up promoting the commercial approach, to the detriment of sporting
principles and the social function of sport.

A third symptom is the temptation for certain sporting operators and certain large
clubs to leave the federations in order to derive the maximum benefit from the
economic potential of sport for themselves alone. This tendency may jeopardise the
principle of financial solidarity between professional and amateur sport and the
system of promotion and relegation common to most federations.

Another consequence that has been observed is the hazardous future facing young
people who are being led into top-level competitive sport at an increasingly early
age, often with no other vocational training, with the resulting risks for their physical
and mental health and their subsequent switch to other employment.

3.

THE COMMUNITY, ITS MEMBER STATES AND THE SPORTING MOVEMENT NEED TO
REAFFIRM AND STRENGTHEN THE EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL FUNCTION OF SPORT

The Declaration on sport annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty “emphasises the social
significance of sport, in particular its role in forging identity and bringing people
together”. Physical and sporting activities need to find their place in the education
system of each Member State.

The values that they represent (equal opportunities, fair play, solidarity, etc.) must
also be passed on by sports associations. Sport affects all social classes and age
groups and is an essential tool for social integration and education.

3.1.

Enhancing the educational role of sport

The Commission’s White Paper on Education and Training1 stresses that “knowledge
is defined as an acquired corpus of fundamental and technical knowledge and social
skills” that concern “relational skills, such as the ability to cooperate and work as
part of a team, creativeness and the quest for quality”, all of which are values

1

“Teaching and learning – towards the knowledge-based society”, Commission White Paper on
Education and Training, OPOCE, Luxembourg, 1995.

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conveyed by sport. With this in mind, Community action, within the context of its
educational and training programmes, could focus on the following objectives:

–

–

–

improving the position of sport and physical education at school through the
Community programmes;

promoting the subsequent switch to other employment and future integration
onto the labour market of sportsmen and women;

promoting convergence between the training systems for sports workers in
each Member State.

Moreover, the Council of Europe rightly stressed that sport is also “an ideal platform
for social democracy2”. It
is therefore important for the existing Community
programmes to make use of sport in combating exclusion, inequalities, racism and
xenophobia.

the violence that

Furthermore,
is
unacceptable. As part of the European Union’s objective to provide its citizens with a
high level of protection in an area of freedom, safety and justice, the responsible
authorities will have to step up their cooperation in order to prevent this type of
violence.

sometimes develops at

sporting events

3.2.

Joining forces to combat doping

The Vienna European Council also wished to underline “its concern at the extent
and seriousness of doping in sports”. It mentioned the need for mobilisation at
European Union level and invited the Member States and the Commission “to
examine possible measures to intensify the fight against this danger”, together with
the sports bodies.

The measures implemented by the Commission,3 in close cooperation with the
Member States, have focused on three fronts:

–

–

Referring this matter to the European Group on Ethics. The opinion issued by
this Group suggests a number of avenues that could be explored by the State
authorities and sporting organisations;

Cooperating with the Olympic movement
agency and to make sure that it works independently and transparently;

to create a world anti-doping

– Mobilising Community instruments to supplement and strengthen the work
already carried out by the Member States in the areas of research, public
health, education and youth, but also cooperation, as provided for by the third
pillar. Further work needs to be done to improve legislative coordination.

However, this work will come to nothing unless the public authorities and the
sporting organisations tackle the root causes of the rise in doping. The development
of the fight against doping also depends on the general development of sport.

2

3

“Social cohesion and sport” Clearing House – Sport Division of the Council of Europe – Committee for
the Development of Sport, Strasbourg, March 1999.
Community support plan in the combat against doping in sport, COM (1999) 643 of 1.12.99.

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4.

CLARIFYING THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF SPORT

As underlined by the conclusions of the European Union Conference on Sport
organised by the Commission in Olympia in May 1999, "sport must be able to
assimilate the new commercial framework in which it must develop, without at the
same time losing its identity and autonomy, which underpin the functions it performs
in the social, cultural, health and educational areas."

While the Treaty contains no specific provisions on sport, the Community must
nevertheless ensure that the initiatives taken by the national State authorities or
sporting organisations comply with Community law, including competition law, and
respect in particular the principles of the internal market (freedom of movement for
workers, freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, etc.).

In this respect, accompanying, coordination or interpretation measures at Community
level might prove to be useful, for example in the area of the fight against doping.
They would be designed to strengthen the legal certainty of sporting activities and
their social function at Community level. However, as Community powers currently
stand, there can be no question of large-scale intervention or support programmes or
even of the implementation of a Community sports policy.

4.1.

The increase in the number of conflicts

The economic developments observed in the area of sport and the responses of the
various State authorities and sporting organisations to the problems that they raise do
not go far enough to guarantee that the current structures of sport and its social
function can be safeguarded. The increase in the number of court proceedings is the
sign of growing tension.

–

–

Certain clubs contest the collective sale of television rights. Several complaints
have been submitted to national courts, and the judgments delivered at national
level have come to differing conclusions. The question of the collective sale of
such rights is also raised in certain cases pending before the Commission;

the Bosman judgment, delivered by the Court of Justice in December 1995 on
the basis of the principle of freedom of movement for workers, has had major
repercussions on the organisation of sport in Europe. It has done much to
eliminate certain abuses and to promote the mobility of sportsmen and women.
However, the sporting federations - which, incidentally, have not set up a new
alternative system to the one condemned by the Court - consider that it has
widened the economic gap between clubs and between players and has caused
problems for the training of young people in clubs. Certain clubs which have
established training centres for professional sportsmen and women have seen
their best people leave, without them receiving any compensation for the
investment they have made in training;

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–

–

–

there are differences in fiscal
legislation, and hence in the taxation of
professional sportsmen and women or of sporting clubs, within the European
Union. This situation is a source of inequality between countries and clubs and
contributes to the phenomenon of ever higher offers;

several Member States of the European Union have recently announced
measures to limit or manage the effects of the commercialisation of sport.
While these measures obviously help to preserve the principles and social
function of sport, they may increase the disparities between Member States of
the European Union and cause problems in the area of Community law.

certain complaints also concern the monopoly of
federations on the
organisation of sporting competitions, the ownership of several clubs by one
person (multiple ownership), the rules on the geographical organisation of
sport, the statutes of professional clubs and certain commercial operations
carried out by the federations.

On the other hand, other measures have been taken at Community level, in keeping
with the principle of subsidiarity, which are strengthening the legal framework while
preserving the "common interest" dimension of sport. One example is the decision
taken at the time of the 1997 revision of the "Television without frontiers" Directive.
Under the terms of the revised text, the Member States may take measures, in
keeping with Community law, to ensure that the general public has access to major
sporting events.

4.2.

The need for convergent endeavours

is advisable, as wished by the European Council, but also the European
If it
Parliament4 and the Committee of the Regions5, to preserve the social function of
sport, and therefore the current structures of the organisation of sport in Europe, there
is a need for a new approach to questions of sport both at European Union level and
in the Member States, in compliance with the Treaty, especially with the principle of
subsidiarity, and the autonomy of sporting organisations.

This new approach involves preserving the traditional values of sport, while at the
same time assimilating a changing economic and legal environment. It is designed to
view sport globally and coherently. This overall vision assumes greater consultation
between the various protagonists (sporting movement, Member States and European
Community) at each level. It should lead to the clarification, at each level, of the
legal framework for sports operators.

The European Union would have an essential part to play in implementing this new
approach, given the increasing internationalisation of sport and the direct impact of
Community policies on European sport.

4

5

Resolution of the European Parliament on the role of the European Union in the field of sport,
OJ C 200, 30.6.1997.
Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "The European model of sport", CdR 37/99, 15.9.99.

7

4.2.1.

The Community level

In terms of the economic activity that it generates, the sporting sector is subject to the
rules of the EC Treaty, like the other sectors of the economy. The application of the
Treaty's competition rules to the sporting sector must take account of the specific
characteristics of sport, especially the interdependence between sporting activity and
the economic activity that it generates, the principle of equal opportunities and the
uncertainty of the results.

With a view to an improved definition of the legal environment, it is possible to give
examples, without prejudice to the conclusions that the Commission could draw from
the in-depth analysis of each case, of practices of sports organisations.

4.2.1.1. Practices which do not come under the competition rules

The regulations of sporting organisations drawing up rules without which a sport
could not exist, or which are necessary for its organisation or for the organisation of
competitions, might not be subject to the competition rules. The rules inherent to
sport are, first and foremost, the “rules of the game”. The aim of these rules is not to
distort competition.

4.2.1.2. Practices that are, in principle, prohibited by the competition rules

These are restrictive practices in the economic activities generated by sport. They
may concern, in particular, restrictions on parallel imports of sports products and the
sale of entrance tickets to stadiums that discriminates between users who are resident
in a particular Member State and those who live outside that Member State.

Sponsoring agreements that close a market by removing other suppliers for no
objective reason are prohibited. The systems of international transfers based on
arbitrarily calculated payments which bear no relation to training costs seem to have
been prohibited, irrespective of the nationality of the player concerned.

Lastly, it is likely that there would be a ban on the practice of a sporting organisation
using its regulatory power to exclude from the market, for no objective reason, any
economic operator which, even though it complies with the justified quality or safety
standards, has not been able to obtain a document from this organisation certifying to
the quality or safety of its products.

4.2.1.3. Practices likely to be exempted from the competition rules

–

The Bosman judgment mentioned above recognised as legitimate the objectives
designed to maintain a balance between clubs, while preserving a degree of
equality of opportunity and the uncertainty of the result, and to encourage the
recruitment and training of young players. Consequently,
is likely that
agreements between professional clubs or decisions by their associations that
are really designed to achieve these two objectives would be exempted. The
same would be true of a system of transfers or standard contracts based on
objectively calculated payments that are related to the costs of training, or of an
exclusive right, limited in duration and scope, to broadcast sporting events. It
goes without saying that the other provisions of the Treaty must also be
complied with in this area, especially those that guarantee freedom of
movement for professional sportsmen and women;

it

8

–

–

it is likely that short-term sponsoring agreements based on an invitation to
tender and with clear and non-discriminatory selection criteria would be
authorised;

any exemptions granted in the case of the joint sale of broadcasting rights must
take account of the benefits for consumers and of the proportional nature of the
restriction on competition in relation to the legitimate objective pursued. In this
context, there is also a need to examine the extent to which a link can be
established between the joint sale of rights and financial solidarity between
professional and amateur sport,
the objectives of the training of young
sportsmen and women and those of promoting sporting activities among the
population. However, with regard to the sale of exclusive rights to broadcast
sporting events, it is likely that any exclusivity which, by its duration and/or
scope, resulted in the closing of the market, would be prohibited.

4.2.2.

The national level

The national State authorities also need to clarify the legal rules in order to safeguard
the current structures and the social function of sport.

One way of safeguarding the national federal structures could be to provide for them
to be recognised by law in each Member State of the Union. Other ways of achieving
this objective would be the partnership agreements between the State and the
sporting federations and to grant the representative sporting federations a specific
status which could be based on that of the professional associations. There is also a
need to examine, in legal terms, the legal status of clubs, their purchase or the
participation of commercial or financial groups in their equity.

4.2.3.

The level of sporting organisations

In order to clarify the legal environment of sport, it
is also necessary for the
federations to make an effort to define their missions and statutes more precisely.
The pyramid structure of the organisation of sport
in Europe gives sporting
federations a practical "monopoly". The existence of several federations in one
discipline would risk causing major conflicts. Indeed, the organisation of national
championships and the selection of national athletes and national
teams for
international competitions often require the existence of one umbrella organisation
bringing together all the sports associations and competitors of one discipline.

statutes

The federations should also perform tasks such as the promotion of amateur and
professional sport and carry out a role of integration into society (young people, the
disabled, etc.). Their
should explicitly state these missions. These
responsibilities should be translated effectively into practice by financial mechanisms
of internal solidarity and the structural and solidarity-based relationship between
competitive sport and amateur sport. Operations with an economic dimension should
be founded on the principles of transparency and balanced access to the market,
effective and proven redistribution and clarification of contracts, while prominence is
given to the “specific nature of sport”.

It must be stressed that the basic freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty do not generally
conflict with the regulatory measures of sports associations, provided that these
measures are objectively justified, non-discriminatory, necessary and proportional.

9

There is also a need to find solutions, in partnership with the sporting federations, in
order to develop alternatives to the transfer systems condemned by the Bosman
judgment.

5.

CONCLUSION

If the Commission is asked whether it can guarantee that the current development of
sport will not jeopardise the current structures and social function of sport, its
unequivocal answer is that it cannot. It is indeed important to remember that the
Commission has no direct responsibility for sport under the Treaty.

In order to safeguard the current sports structures and maintain the social function of
sport, there is a need for a new approach to questions of sport. The first step towards
such a new approach is for the various protagonists involved to respect a common
foundation of sporting principles:

–

–

–

–

–

The European Union recognises the eminent role played by sport in European
society and attaches the greatest importance to the maintenance of its functions
of promoting social integration and education and making a contribution to
public health and to the general interest function performed by the federations;

The integrity and autonomy of sport must be preserved. The purchase of
sporting clubs by commercial bodies (communication groups etc.) must, if
permitted, be governed by clear rules, out of a concern for the preservation of
sporting structures and ethics;

The system of promotion and relegation is one of the characteristics of
European sport. This system gives small or medium-sized clubs a better chance
and rewards sporting merit;

Doping and sport are diametrically opposed. There can be no let-up in the fight
against doping;

The “trade” in young sportsmen and women must be combated. Each young
sportsman or woman trained by a club for top-level competition must receive
vocational training in addition to sports training.

On the basis of these principles, there is a need for a new partnership between the
European institutions, the Member States and the sports organisations, all moving in
the same direction, in order to encourage the promotion of sport in European society,
while respecting sporting values, the autonomy of sporting organisations and the
Treaty, especially the principle of subsidiarity.

Insufficient coordination between the protagonists of sport (federations, Member
States and the European Community), all of them working in isolation, would risk
thwarting the efforts to achieve these shared principles. However, the convergent
efforts of the European Community, the Member States and the sporting federations
could make an effective contribution to the promotion in Europe of sport that is true
to its social role, while ensuring that its organisational aspects assimilate the new
economic order.

10