CAS 2006/A/1168 Baggaley v/International Canoe Federation
Related case:
CAS 2007_A_1201 Nathan Baggaley vs Australian Canoe, ICF & Surf Life Saving Australia - Partial Award
January 20, 2007
- Canoeing
- Doping
- Inherent powers of CAS
- Interpretation of the CAS Rules
- Interpretation of “Appeal” in the CAS Rules
- Time limit to lodge a Statement of Appeal
- Beginning of the time limit to appeal
1. The CAS is an arbitral body not a court of law. It does not possess any inherent powers nor any discretion, afforded by Rules of Court, to control its own processes or to unilaterally vary, adjust or waive the requirements of the contract by which the parties and the CAS have agreed to be bound and which relevantly finds expression in the Code of Sports-related Arbitration.
2. All of the CAS Rules, and each individual Rule must be construed in their context and, in particular, in the context of the Rules as a whole. Furthermore, the CAS Rules must be construed in a practical, sensible and reasonable fashion to give practical effect to them and no provision should be regarded as otiose, redundant or superfluous unless such a conclusion is rendered necessary by a consideration of the Rules as a whole.
3. The expressions “Appeal” and “Statement of Appeal” in art. R47 to R49 of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration are intended to be read as synonyms and as interchangeable expressions. To construe the Rules otherwise would be to make a nonsense of the exception set out in art. R32 or at least render it otiose or superfluous.
4. In the absence of a time limit set in the statutes or regulations of the federation, association or sports-related body concerned, or of a previous agreement, a Statement of Appeal shall be lodged by an appellant within 21 days of the receipt of the decision appealed against.
5. In order for a Tribunal to be able to determine whether or not the previous instance decision is reasoned, written or timely, the appeal itself must be timely. If the CAS were to hold that time only starts to run when a decision is timely, written and reasoned, such criteria would make it impossible for a potential Appellant to objectively determine when time starts to run.
By an Application Form dated 11 October 2006 the Appellant, Mr Nathan Baggaley lodged an appeal against a decision of the International Canoeing Federation (ICF), handed down on or shortly before 15 March 2006 whereby the ICF decided to suspend the Appellant for a 2-year period from all International Competitions in the sport of canoeing, commencing on 13 September 2005. The ICF is the peak world body controlling or administering the sport of canoeing.
The Panel concludes that this Appeal was filed out of time and must be deemed inadmissible by reason of R48 and R49 of the CAS Rules. It gives the Panel no pleasure in deciding this matter on such a technical basis. As we have said, we do not think it appropriate to express any concluded view at all on the merits of the substantive decisions but it would have been far preferable that this Appeal had been determined on such merits.
In reaching the decision which it has, the Panel does not wish in any way to suggest that it is in any way giving its seal of approval to the ICF’s decision of March 2006 or the circumstances in which it is made. Neither the ICF nor any similar organisation should regard this Award as supporting the notion that it can make decisions such as the one made here in March 2006 without giving the relevant Athlete a fair hearing and without providing a timely and reasoned decision.
Therefore the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides on 29 December 2006 that:
1.) The appeal filed by Mr Nathan Baggaley on 11 October 2006 against a decision of the International Canoe Federation is inadmissible.
2.) The question of costs is reserved.
