Prof. Dr. Mouhannad M. Nouh
Department of Public Law, College of Law
University of Qatar, Doha, State of Qatar

Abstract:

This research aims to posit the problems related to the functional role of the National Olympic Committee, by addressing this role in both the French and Qatar National Olympic Committees, where this functional role is manifested through the competencies given to both committees. So that it turns out that there is a dual functional role, administrative and judicial, for the National Olympic Committee, and that the administrative functional role appears through the set of competencies, of a sports and Olympic nature, assigned to both committees through the text of the law and their statutes. The judicial functional role manifests through the competence of the National Olympic Committee in sports dispute resolution.
The descriptive, analytical, and comparative method was adopted in the research, and several results were reached. It appears that there is a kind of convergence in the competencies, of an Olympic nature, for the French and Qatari Olympic committees, with the presence of important Olympic competencies that the existing legislation did not refer to in the State of Qatar such as the Olympic intellectual property protection and the possibility of commercial activity by the Committee in support of its resources. As for sports competencies, they are much broader for the French Olympic Committee relative to its Qatari counterpart, especially in terms of the comprehensive representation of the national sports movement, capacities of an advisory nature, and representation within the national sports institutions.
As for the judicial functional role related to disputes resolution, it is noted that there is a clear discrepancy between the two committees, as the French Olympic Committee enjoys important competencies in the field of sports dispute resolution through mandatory and optional conciliation mechanisms, optional arbitration, and through specialized bodies operating within the framework of the French Olympic Committee itself such as the conciliators and the Sports Arbitration Chamber. The Qatar Olympic Committee, on the other hand, does not exercise any judicial role, neither conciliation nor arbitration. Rather a provision in its statute recognizing the Qatar sports arbitration authority, with the inadmissibility of resorting to the judiciary for sports dispute resolution, which brings sports disputes into the circle of mandatory arbitration along with the possible legal problems it could carry.
This research encompasses several proposals, most notably are the adoption of the concept of managing the National Olympic delegation in the Qatar Olympic Committee’s basic system, the legalization of the Qatar Olympic Committee’s competence in the protection of Olympic intellectual property, coupled with a codified penal sanction in the legal text, the adoption of conciliation for the resolution of sports disputes within the Qatar Olympic Committee, and making sports arbitration optional.
Keywords: the National Olympic Committee, Olympic intellectual property, arbitration, conciliation, and sports federations.

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