The FIBA Arbitral Tribunal (FAT).

• Author: Blackshaw, Ian
• Position: ARTICLES - International Basketball Federation - Report

Introductory Remarks

Established two years ago in May 2007-with very little fanfare outside the world of basketball-FIBA-the International Basketball Federation-set up its own dispute resolution body, know by the acronym 'FAT'-the FIBA Arbitral Tribunal-with the laudable objectives of settling disputes speedily, informally, inexpensively and effectively. So far, the FAT has dealt with 37 cases, with 20 more pending at the time of writing.

The FAT, which is the brainchild of Dr Dirk Reiner-Martens, a former Secretary-General of FIBA and well-known sports arbitrator, has its seat in Geneva, Switzerland, where FIBA itself is based; and offers arbitration under Swiss Law. It is independent of FIBA, and the language of its arbitrations is English. Hearings are by application only and appeals from FAT awards lie to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. all its arbitrators have CAS experience and its President is Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler of Geneva University, who is well-known in CAS circles.

However, exceptionally, no appeals lie from awards of the FAT or appeals to the CAS to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. These are expressly renounced by the parties to the FAT (see below). In fact, to date, at least, there have been no appeals to the CAS or legal challenges to FAT awards.

The FAT is proving to be an effective body within the European world of basketball. In fact, the FAT standard form arbitration clause is now commonplace in European basketball contracts. However, the FAT is also growing in popularity outside Europe in other countries such as China, the Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

The FAT Standard-Form Arbitration Clause

The standard express contractual reference to FAT arbitration takes the following form:

"Any dispute arising from or related to the present contract shall be submitted to the FIBA Arbitral Tribunal (FAT) in Geneva, Switzerland and shall be resolved in accordance with the FAT Arbitration Rules by a single arbitrator appointed by the FAT President.

The seat of the arbitration shall be Geneva, Switzerland.

The arbitration shall be governed by Chapter 12 of the Swiss Act on Private International Law (PIL), irrespective of the parties' domicile. The language of the arbitration shall be English.

Awards of the FAT can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Lausanne, Switzerland. The parties expressly waive recourse to the Swiss Federal Tribunal against awards of the FAT and against decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upon appeal, as provided in Article 192 of the Swiss Act on Private International Law.

The arbitrator and CAS upon appeal shall decide the dispute ex aequo et bono."

As will be seen, FAT arbitration is handled by a single arbitrator-rather than a panel of three which is more common in CAS cases-and this helps to speed up the process of getting a FAT award. Also, short deadlines are set for the parties to reply; and submissions are made on line.

Likewise, time is saved by the fact that the dispute is decided on an ex aequo et bono basis-in other words, by applying general rules of justice and fairness, including, of course, the rule of due process-obviating the need to refer to any particular national or International law. This basis also applies to the determination of any appeals from the FAT to the CAS. This possibility is foreseen in article R45 of the CAS Code of Sports-related Arbitration (2004 Edition).

In general, a decision of the FAT is made within 6 weeks of the end of the proceedings; and, this, in turn, is usually within 3-4 months of the date of the filing by the claimant of the request for arbitration.

The FAT Request for Arbitration

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