SELECTION GAMES
W
orld sailing has
announced an
additional stage
to its selection
process for the
Olympic Equipment (classes) to be
usedforsailingintheOlympicGames
in 2024 and which initially looks as
thoughitcouldhavesomesignificant
ramifications for the Men’s and Women’s
Singlehanded Dinghy and the Men’s
and Women’s Windsurfer (Laser,
Laser Radial and RS:X classes). All
fourofthesearenowupforreview
in the new selection process.
In essence the antitrust review process
–asitisknown–wasbornofaseries
of discussions and a final vote during
the World Sailing Annual Conference
in November 2017, where submission
013-17 was approved which listed a
number of reasons for the antitrust
process, the most salient being:
The rules of international federations
which impose conditions or restrictionson the supply or use of equipment to
be used in events must comply with
the competition provisions of EU law
(Articles 101 and 102 of the EU Treaty).
The rules governing which equipment
canbeusedinOlympicevents,and
which suppliers are entitled to supply
boats for Olympic events, have the
potential to prevent/distort/restrict
competition in the economic market.
WorldSailingmustcarefullymonitorthe
market and the effect its decisions have.
World Sailing has a “dominant
position” in the market under EU law.
ThisarisesbecauseofWorldSailing’s
position as an international federation
and its role and responsibilities
towardssailingintheOlympic
Games and more generally. This
places a legal obligation on World
Sailing not to abuse this position.
The Board, having taken specialist
external advice in this area, is concerned
that there is no mandatory regular
review of equipment once it is selected.Even if the original decision was based
on an open and fair evaluation, the
longer the equipment is in place without
review, the greater the risk of legal
challenge as any monopoly continues.IMPORTANT POSITION
When looking at these four selected
events, the Laser and Radial were
selected for the Olympics in 1992
and then 2004 respectively and have
remained in place since then (with only
limited manufacturers having legal
exclusivity to produce the equipment).
When it comes to the RS:X, the
current equipment was originally
selected in 2004 and has remained
in place since then. Again a sole
manufacturer has exclusivity to produce
the equipment and therefore World
Sailing has concluded that these are
most appropriate to review first.
Clearly, though, these classes
represent something of a problem for
World Sailing when trying to showTOBY HEPPELL considers how World Sailing’s new equipment
selection rules for 2024 could cause problems for two classes
SELECTION GAMES NEWS SPOTLIGHT
10 Yachts & Yachting March 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk