A new amendment proposed to the Sports Act, suggests merging Sports Arbitration with Maldives International Arbitration Centre, instead of having two separate agencies.
A new amendment proposed to the Sports Act, suggests merging Sports Arbitration with Maldives International Arbitration Centre, instead of having two separate agencies.
This is part of the efforts by the parliament's Social Affairs Committee to amend the law. The committee also invited stakeholders to a forum for public consultation on the proposed amendments.
Giving information on the amendments, the parliament's Legal Affairs Director of Committees and Research Aishath Shifa said the clause on arbitration was removed from the amendment when it was sent to the parliament from the Attorney General's Office.
However, the Sports Act enacted in 2015 mandates the establishment of a sports arbitration panel to resolve disputes in sports, and a dedicated chapter on arbitration was included in the amendments sent to the Attorney General's Office by the Sports ministry last year.
Speaking at today’s forum, Sports Council President Aishath Samah said the Maldives International Arbitration Centre, which was approved and came into force in 2013, also has arbitrators specialising in sports. Because of this, the Sports Ministry had recommended to the Attorney General's Office to have the International Arbitration Centre solve sports arbitration cases.
"The Arbitration Act has been in force since 2013 already. An arbitration center has been established under the Act as well. So instead of spending state money on two separate places [two arbitration agencies], we recommended to the AG Office that there is an existing arbitration [agency and that] there are sports specialised arbitrators there now as well,” said legal expert Samah.
"So we asked [the center] to facilitate [sports arbitration as well]."
However, Samah noted that the interpretation of the Arbitration Act gives priority to business-related cases, and pointed out that this interpretation could be a legal obstacle for the centre to resolve sports disputes.
Samah went on to say that the Sports Ministry 's submitted changes to the Attorney General's Office also include changing how the Arbitration Act is defined.
"We have recommended that it is better to go for sports arbitration via the arbitration centre. However, along with the Sports Act, the interpretation of the 2013 [Arbitration] Act needs to be changed to include sports," Samah, who also served as acting sports commissioner previously, said.
Some associations said they had not been given the opportunity to submit comments on the amendment. The committee vice-chairman, west Maafannu MP Mohamed Mustafa Ibrahim, said the associations would be given a week to submit their views.
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