The Future of the Sports Mediation Development as the Institution of Conflict Resolution (Dispute Resolution) in the Russian Federation

Abstract

The relevance of the subject in question is predetermined by the necessity to introduce extra-judicial methods of dispute resolution in civil cases and labor disputes that allow to resolve the dispute in compliance with the principles of voluntariness and good faith without the threat of court enforcement. The purpose of the research is to analyze the problems and prospects of the institute of sports mediation in resolving sports disputes. To achieve this goal, the author sets objectives aimed at examination of "sports disputes," the study of the activities of the committees for dispute resolution within the framework of sports federations, the possibility of applying the notion of "mediation" in interpretation of the Law on Mediation. A methodological basis of the study is formed by a dialectical method, i.e. the scientific method of cognition of reality, and special and particular legal methods of studying legal phenomena: Systematic-structured method, comparative and legal method, formal and legal method, etc. The study scrutinizes the works of such experts in the field of sports law as: Alekseev S.V., Brilliantova A.M., Veger F. de., Zaitsev Yu.V., Ishchenko S.A., Cusin V.V., Kuznetsov I.S., Kutepov M.E., Lebedev M.A., Orlov E.V., Poghosyan E.V., Prokopets M.A., Rogachev D.I., Chubarov V.V. As a result of examination of modern works in the field of sports law it is concluded that the institute of sports mediation at present is considered mainly on examples of activities of committees for dispute resolution in sports federations. In the author's opinion, this approach is incorrect, as the committees are subordinate to sports federations which, in turn, act as employers for many participants of sports disputes. Therefore, such committees can not be called independent from the parties to the dispute, which is contrary to the requirements applied to mediators under the Law on Mediation. To resolve the problem, the author proposes the creation of an independent chamber for the resolution of sports disputes. The jurisdiction of the Chamber would cover mediation only, rather than issuing binding and mandatory decisions.