Organizational and Legal Support of State Policy in the Area of Sport

Abstract

The paper is a summary of materials of a scientific conference held in the Higher School of Economics in March 2011. The summary has been made up by the authors on the speeches of Russian lawyers specializing in sports law. The discussion at the conference was focused on the Federal law On Physical Education and Sport in the Russian Federation, 2007 and its application. The analysis involved the problems of applying the norms of civil and labour law to the area of sport. The participants assessed positively the distribution of powers vertically in the public power institutions. Mass physical education and sports for the disabled  are assigned to the competence of the Russian Federation but Deaf Olympic Games, World Specific Olympics and paraolympic elite sport are part of the federal competence. The attention was drawn that RF law lacks the system of subjects of sports relations, ambiguous criteria to select members to national teams, multiple contradictions in interpreting legal norms by various sports federations and clubs by Russian clubs as to their responsibilities, as well as the responsibilities of coaches and athletes. Bottlenecks of legal regulation regarding sponsorship have been criticized as well as competition and overlapping legal regulation in Russian sport. The law has a potential to construct a modern meeting all the requirements system of regulating relations connected with the development of physical education and professional sport. However, it is necessary to scrutinize the efficiency of legal mechanisms fixed in the law, analyze case practice, enforce the law with normative acts and maintain professional dialogue.