Regulation of Sports Federations

From an administrative standpoint and among participating schools, sports federations control each competition. What are their norms, and how are they formed and regulated?

Sports federations are the different organizations that establish norms to regulate and organize different disciplines. Through this type of structure, officials can determine infractions. They can also officially apply changes in the rules when necessary.

Many of these entities are basically private legal associations, as they serve the function of a delegation. At the same time, they also take care of administrative public tasks in relation to the sport.

The federations often have their own estates, independent from their associates. That said, most insist that their goals are not lucrative.

Contracting of sports federations

As a result of a current legal vacuum, none of the allocations for contracting of Spanish sports federations are subject to bids. That is, they’re not obeying the laws in Article 3.1, Section J of the Law of Public Contracts.

The Board of Sports makes decisions a posteriori. Because of this, it’s not common at all that federations obey the laws. Even though it should be like this, at the very least the doctrine balances things in a way that they understand what they must do.

Do the sports federations skip the guidelines?

Since they’re of a legal nature, federations should base their functions on the object for which they were created. The Council of Sports is responsible for its coordination and tutoring.

Sports federations are dependent on either the public administration or an adjudicating entity. Because of this, they must be regulated according to article 3.1 in the Law of Public Contracts, under the following conditions:

1. If an administrator takes out a high percentage of the total sum of an activity.
2. If an administrator or adjudicating entity names more than half of the people in the organization. This could be in the area of administration, direction, or security.
3. If the administrator exercises control over both of the above. On this point, they must consider that public servants cannot participate since they could influence the contracts.

LCSP in the sports federation contracts

Article 3 (that we’ve already mentioned) absorbs into its jurisdiction private entities that fulfill general interest purposes under the control of the administration. Sports federations aren’t directly included here.

However, Sections J and K establish a “residual” clause in which they are considered public entities. Because of this, to confirm if the federations are really subject to LCSP (the Public Sector Contract Law), we need to look back at Article 3.1, Section J. There, you’ll find three basic demands

• To have legal personnel
• Satisfying the basic needs of the general public is its main function. Under no circumstances should it show a mercantile or industrial nature.
• Depends on an administrator or adjudicatory entity

Other considerations

The Sports Law (1990) rules the internal structures for a sports federation to work. A sports federation will also, of course, have its own internal rules. State bulletins will publish any modifications to these rules.

The law states that each federation is an organic structure that cannot be modified. This guarantees the democratic principles and the representation of everyone involved, from athletes to directors.

This means that everyone from the governing bodies, the representatives of clubs, leagues, and associations, and even sport club promotors should form a part of the general assembly. Electing a president of the federation is one of the most important jobs they’ll do.