PURPOSE: to conclude, on behalf of the European Union,
of the Council of Europe Convention on the manipulation of sports
competitions with regard to matters related to substantive criminal
law and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the
act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act.
BACKGROUND: in order to respond to the challenge of
match-fixing, a practice often linked to organised criminal
networks operating on a global scale, the Council of Europe invited
the parties to the European Cultural Convention in 2012 to begin
negotiations for a Convention of the Council of Europe
against the manipulation of sports results.
On 9 July 2014, the Ministers Deputies of the
Council of Europe adopted the Convention on the Manipulation of
Sports Competitions. The Convention was opened for signature by
the European Union and several Member States have signed
it.
In March 2015, the Commission presented to the Council
two proposals for the Council's decisions on the signing of
the Convention on behalf of the Union:
- a proposal for a Council decision on the signing of
the Convention on behalf of the Union with regard to matters
related to substantive criminal law and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters based on Articles 82 (1) and 83 (1)
TFEU;
- a proposal for a Council decision on the signing of
the Convention on behalf of the Union with regard to matters not
related to substantive criminal law and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters based on Articles 114 and 165 TFEU.
The Commission's proposals were last discussed in
Coreper in November 2015. At this occasion the Presidency concluded
that it would not proceed with the file until it had
obtained the consent of all delegations.
Against this background, the Union has not yet
signed the Convention.
The Commission considers that the signature of the
Convention should be part of the Union's efforts to participate in
the fight against match fixing in conjunction with other tools such
as the forthcoming Commission initiative on betting-related
match-fixing in line with the 2012
Commission Communication on online gambling.
The present proposal concerns the legal instrument
concluding the agreement.
CONTENT: the Commission proposes that the Council
approves, on behalf of the Union, the conclusion of the Council
of Europe Convention on the manipulation of sports
competitions.
The purpose of the Convention to combat the
manipulation of sports competitions in order to protect the
integrity of sport and sports ethics in accordance with the
principle of the autonomy of sport. It does so by taking a
number of measures that aim at preventing, detecting and
sanctioning the manipulation of sports competitions.
In view of that purpose, the Convention also promotes
international cooperation and sets-up a monitoring mechanism to
ensure that the provisions laid down in the Convention are followed
up.
The legal bases for this proposal for a
decision should be Article 82(1) (judicial cooperation in criminal
matters) and Article 83(1) (substantive criminal law) of the TFEU
in conjunction with the Article 218(6) (a) of the TFEU.
The provisions of the Convention falling within the
competence of the Union other than the provisions on substantive
criminal law and judicial cooperation in criminal matters are
subject of a separate
proposal for a decision.