Ensuring fair play in the sports courts – why we need disclosure guidelines in sports disciplinary proceedings

Like most sports, the governing guidelines for criminal litigation and investigations are all about fair play. That includes the requirement for the prosecution to disclose to the defence material which might undermine the prosecution case or assist the defence. However, in relation to the growing world of sports integrity and disciplinary investigations, there remains a core problem: there are no published guidelines for disclosure, and often, no guidelines at all which address how to handle documents and information that might be relevant to the defence's case.

In the authors' view, this leaves too much room for error or mismanagement of relevant material. The repercussions for both regulators and the athletes that they oversee can be serious. It has the potential to undermine athletes' basic rights to a fair hearing (as enshrined in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights - ECHR) and seriously affect the reputation of sporting regulators.

This article examines the extent of the ‘disclosure problem' in sport under English law and its potential effects on English sports governing bodies. It also explores the principles that are at the heart of the key disclosure regime in UK criminal proceedings (as defined by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 - CPIA), and asks whether sports bodies could, or indeed should, apply some of these principles to enhance their own disclosure processes.

• What is “disclosure” and how does it work in criminal proceedings?
• How does disclosure currently work in sports investigations?
• Current problems with disclosure in sports
• Could UK sports regulators adopt a CPIA-like disclosure regime (and how would it work)?
• Advantages and disadvantages of adopting a CPIA-like regime
• Recent developments to help improve the CPIA
• Steps sporting regulators can take to ensure the proper handling of disclosure