Dan Oancea: “We offer a very suitable range for those who come before us to resolve their dispute in a spirit of fair play.”

PRESS RELEASE

At the launch event of the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport, prof. univ. dr. av. Dan Oancea, took the floor and expressed his opinion on the manner of resolving disputes within the T.R.A.S.

“My long and very diverse career has offered me an opportunity at some point. And, like any opportunity, it was the result of a momentary circumstance, that of entering the sports jurisdiction, in the field of anti-doping, ten years ago. I was a member of the Appeals Commission at the National Anti-Doping Agency for about eight years, and for the last two years, I have been with the Hearing Commission at the same institution. This journey in the very specific field of anti-doping law has given me the opportunity to understand an aspect I could not have perceived from the outside and to witness an evolution. What do I mean? Generally, athletes, regardless of the litigious area they are in, are quite bohemian. Bohemian meaning a certain inability they especially have when involved in disputes. This caused me to be confronted for a long time with athletes brought before this anti-doping jurisdictional body who did not hire lawyers, did not know how to defend themselves, and did not understand what was happening to them. This situation obliged us at that time to take on an active role to somewhat compensate for the absence of a lawyer, which was not typical for a jurisdictional body. But it is interesting that feedback was created from the jurisdiction to the potential justiciables, who, seeing how the jurisdiction operated in this area, began what the English call ‘awareness’ – to become aware of the complications and, especially, the consequences of their involvement in a certain litigious area. The almost immediate reflex was that the number of lawyers assisting athletes in these disputes increased year by year, which greatly pleased me because it was a win-win-win situation. For the athlete, for the lawyer who could, if not specialized, specialize in this fairly narrow area, and also for us as a jurisdictional body because we benefited from much better quality conclusions and defenses. And I can only hope, drawing an analogy, that this will happen with the Romanian Court of Arbitration for Sport, which largely targets the same sphere of persons subject to jurisdiction, not in anti-doping, because that is reserved for special anti-doping jurisdiction, but in all other aspects related to the status of the athlete and sports activity. This issue is all the more difficult for us because, as you have seen from the organizational and operational regulations, we function by taking into account not only the law but also the regulations from which possible rights that are subject to our judgment arise. Ultimately, we end up, in the absence of regulatory or legal support, applying general principles of law and, not least, the principle of equity, a Roman law principle which I teach as a professor of Roman law and which guided the Roman praetor in all his creative legal activities. So, we offer a very suitable range, if I may say so, for those who come before us to resolve, in a spirit of fair play, all the disputes they enter into. Especially since sports legislation is extremely outdated. I remember my second notable experience in the field of sports was with my collaboration as a lawyer with Mrs. Minister Elisabeta Lipă, who, courageous and determined as we know her, wanted to improve the Sports Law. Which, poor thing, is very outdated, no longer corresponds to realities, and, naturally, this is reflected in the disputes that arise in this field. In this respect, I must confess, and I believe my colleagues will not contradict me, that we too must learn. Because we will probably receive sufficiently different regulatory bases that we will have to take into account and learn. But this keeps us young, and I thank you if you offer us this chance to be younger every day and to remain determined to resolve disputes in the spirit of sports as such. Thank you very much!”