Dr. Antonida Netzer on Sports Arbitration and DIS, 3 November 2022
One of the most exciting parts of the IDR LL.M program at Humboldt University of Berlin is that the students can get a taste of specific areas of arbitration. I am sure that Paris, London, or Hong Kong are the first cities that come to our minds when it comes to arbitration institutions for commercial matters. But I believe that many people are not aware that commercial and investment disputes are not the only types of disputes which are regularly resolved through arbitration, but that arbitration is also the preferred dispute resolution mechanism in various niche sectors – such as sports.
The IDR LL.M. students were fortunate to learn more about the topic of sports arbitration in a guest lecture delivered by Dr. Antonida Netzer, who is a Senior Counsel at the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), where she is responsible for sports disputes. Dr. Netzer not only provided us with a general introduction to the topic, but also explained to us the specificities of sports arbitration at the DIS, particularly in comparison to proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Among other things, she touched upon the advantages and disadvantages of sports arbitration, the binding nature of the decisions, and the role of state courts. Then, Dr. Antonida Netzer continued with one of the most controversial issues in sports: doping. We talked about anti-doping regulations, prohibited substances, and various doping methods in sports, such as blood doping, techno doping, etc.
As any lecture on sports arbitration would be incomplete without a reference to the Pechstein saga, Dr. Netzer also did a case study on this infamous dispute between the German athlete Claudia Pechstein and the International Skating Union. It was very interesting to hear about the different stages of the proceedings, ranging from the CAS arbitration to proceedings before the Swiss and German courts, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and, finally, the German Constitutional Court.
With further doping scandals surrounding the latest Olympic games, getting insightful, up-to-date knowledge from an expert like Dr. Antonida Netzer about dispute resolution in professional sports in general and at the DIS in particular was an excellent opportunity for the IDR LL.M. students.
Undral Sukhbaatar, IDR LL.M. Candidate