Thread by @lewis_crofts

Update: EU court opened with skating dispute, saying it was the "warm-up" for #SuperLeague
Short summary:
- very engaged court
- will pose qu's later on conflicts of interest at @uefa
- will explore EU treaty conflict btw sport & competition law
- Opinion slated for Dec 15
/1

This morning was about International Skating Union @ISU_Speed against @EU_Commission over #antitrust decision that excluded @marktuitert from Dubai-based events.

ISU imposed bans because the Dubai event featured betting. EC said the eligibility criteria were not transparent. /2

Jan Passer (Czech judge) is leading the questions & was forensic. Wanted to know about where ISU got its powers from (derived from IOC @iocmedia ? or member associations?). Also wanted to know about "conflicts of interest." This is a governing body having regulatory powers.../3

which is decision on size of balls/pitches, and economic interests (ISU makes money from events).

Passer signalled he'd be asking about this at the #ESL hearing later. That will be music to the ears of #ESL, which has a big argument with @UEFA about its alleged conflicts. /4

Passer also asked about the EU's 2009 Lisbon Treaty. This introduced a reference to special place of sport in Europe. But the Treaty also has rules on fair competition.

Question: how do you square the two? Who wins in a fight to the death? (Match: Article 101 v Article 165) /5

.@EU_Commission said Art 165 didn't change anything for ISU case. The interests of sport (grass roots game, open competitions, social dimension) were already codified in previous caselaw.

ISU said Art165 allowed protection of legitimate interests, such as integrity of skating/6

There was also a tussle over the Court of Arbitration in Sport.

The skaters said the fact that any disputes had to go there (and not the EU courts) meant that they couldn't take action against ISU and enforce their rights under EU competition law. /7

Judges went super nerdy on this because it is all about arbitration rules and jurisdiction... some of which relates to inter-state stuff, but the ISU is clearly not a state. It's a sports body.

So the judges asked about "freely established will" to sign up to these terms. /8

The EC said signing up to the CAS arbitration terms was "not voluntary."

ISU said that the EC subsequently allowed it to keep its arbitration rules in the wake of the #antitrust decision. So, clearly they were fine. Go figure. /9

For the #ESL hearing later, the signs are the judges will be animated. At least five members of the court asked questions. Both AG Rantos & reporting judge Passer asked plenty, with some relish, and they are in the driving seat for this pm hearing with #ESL and @UEFA /10

Also, AG Rantos will hand down a non-binding opinion in the ISU case on Dec 15. I bet you that he'll do his #ESL opinion on the same day as well.

He said it was a "Christmas present" for the court. Funny idea of Christmas, I must say. /11

Right, time to get out of my one-piece lycra skating bodysuit and slip into my football kit. More later. /ends