The Specificity of Sports in the International and EU Law

The conference paper deals with the current debate on the specificity of sports in the international and EU law. Does the specificity play any role in the context of international law – e.g. in the international human rights and labour law? At the EU level, the idea of specificity was explained by the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union e.g. in the cases Walrave and Koch, Bosman, and Meca-Medina. Moreover, the idea of specificity of sports was included in the wording of the Lisbon treaty (2009). What are the consequences of this move? What approach did the Court take in the latest case of Bernard (March 2010)? These are the main questions the paper will address.