LUXEMBOURG: The International Skating Union (ISU) on Monday asked Europe’s highest court to overturn an EU oversight injunction preventing punishment of speed skaters for competing in competitive events, saying a ruling to uphold the injunction contained “manifest errors of law “.
The case could make it easier to set up unofficial and breakaway events and competitions without the sport’s governing body’s approval.
The ISU came under the crosshairs of EU antitrust authorities after Dutch speed skaters Mark Tuitert and Niels Kerstholt complained that threats of a lifetime ban prevented them from taking part in lucrative ice derby events hosted by a South Korean company.
The European Commission took up the skaters’ case and ruled in a 2017 decision against the ISU that the governing body’s sanctions against the skaters were disproportionately punitive and also prevented the emergence of competing events in violation of EU antitrust rules.
The court, the second-highest in Europe, dismissed the ISU’s lawsuit in 2020 and appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
“The court made manifest errors of law,” ISU attorney Jean-Francois Bellis told the 15-judge panel.
He said the ISU’s actions are designed to preserve the integrity of speed skating and the moral integrity of the athletes.
Commission lawyer Freya van Schaik said the ISU has not shown that its rules specifically and genuinely achieve its goals in a coherent manner.
The organizer’s wide discretion in pre-approving competing events distorts competition, she said.
The case is C-124/21 P International Skating Union v European Commission.