White Paper on Sport
The European Commission's long-awaited White Paper on Sport, intended to provide strategic orientation on the role of sport in the EU, was finally published on 11 July 2007. However, a number of sports governing bodies, including the IOC and FIFA, have labelled the White Paper as a "missed opportunity" and have criticised it for only paying lip service to the concept of the specificity of sport and for failing to accord such concept a more concrete expression under EU law.
Nevertheless, the White Paper has received some support from sporting bodies, such as UEFA, for taking a number of steps forward in outlining the EU's role in a number of different sectors within sport including media rights, player quotas and the regulation of players' agents. In particular, it states that while joint selling of media rights raises competition concerns, the Commission is willing to accept it under certain conditions. Similarly, the White Paper confirmed that rules obliging teams to select a quota of "homegrown" players in their squads could be compatible with EU law. However, the latter declaration was caveated on the basis that any discrimination on the grounds of nationality resulting from such rules must be outweighed by the potential benefits of developing young players. Finally, the Commission gave its first strong indication that it is considering a legislative intervention into the world of sports agency by announcing within the White Paper that it has commissioned a study to assess whether legislation is needed to govern the activities of sports agents within the EU.
It is important to bear in mind that the White Paper does not necessarily reflect the Commission's final position, as sports stakeholders will have an opportunity to respond in October this year when the Commission organises a conference to discuss its contents. As a final note, whilst the White Paper does provide a useful insight into the Commission's intentions in relation to the sports sector, the document itself has no binding legal effect.
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