Cristian Jura: “We have a great responsibility. You can’t play with a sportsman’s life and career”

PRESS RELEASE

At the launch event of the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport, the president of T.R.A.S., prof. univ. dr. Cristian Jura, explained why the arbitrators within T.R.A.S. bear a great responsibility.

“This is a historic and symbolic moment at the same time. We are officially launching the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport as an independent entity. We emerged out of a dual necessity. On the one hand, we are following a European trend, as similar courts have been established in Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland, which have taken on some of the disputes reserved for sports law. On the other hand, we have the necessity for an independent authority to exist in Romania. As you can see, the level of representation within the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport is very high.

I mentioned that it is a symbolic moment because we have made sustained efforts for a year to not present you with a bubble, an institution that was just founded and that’s it. On the contrary, we have been legally constituted, we have a procedure, we have arbitrators, and we already have a case resolved, which is very important. We wanted to show, when we came before you, that we have a functional structure, not just an empty form. This first case was resolved within six weeks, respecting all procedural guarantees. This aspect is very important to note.

First and foremost, we want to consider people because for a sportsman, it matters greatly if their case is resolved in a week, two, a month, or a year, as a lengthy resolution can affect their entire sports career. This mechanism, specially designed for sports with a very simple and expedited procedure, we believe, meets everyone’s needs. One federation was brave enough to transfer authority to us, and we are in discussions with other federations that wish to collaborate with the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport in one form or another.

In the already existing institutional architecture at the national level, alongside the National Sports Agency, the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, and the National Sports Agency, here comes the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport. We bring this institutional component for the resolution of sports disputes.

We have a great responsibility. You can’t play with a sportsman’s life and career. These are very important aspects that we must consider. There is a problem that sports law specialists generally face, namely these overlapping jurisdictions. You go to the federation commissions and then to court, where the dispute lasts a very long time, you don’t know what to expect, and court disputes take a very long time, we must admit. We are faced with a system that instead of simplifying, becomes very complicated, and we have proposed to come before you with a simplified system dedicated one hundred percent to sports.”