Duda surprised before Christmas. He submitted an important bill to the Constitutional Tribunal

On Monday, Duda submitted a request to the Constitutional Tribunal for the court to analyze the law passed by the Sejm in November this year under the preventive review procedure.

Duda referred the law on sports to the Constitutional Tribunal

As we can read in the office’s statement, “the president’s doubts are raised by (…) the legal structure (…), which provides for the expansion of the composition of the boards of Polish sports associations with mandatory members in the form of a representative or representatives of the national team players in the sport in which he the association organizes and conducts sports competitions.

“For every seven members of the management board of the Polish sports association, there is at least one representative of the national team players. Importantly, the election of the representative or representatives to the management board of the Polish sports association is made only by the players of the national team, excluding all members of the Polish sports associations who, when constituting a general meeting of members or a general meeting of delegates, are entitled to elect members of the management board of the Polish sports association,” it was written.

It is further indicated that “in the context of the questioned regulation, a significant constitutional doubt arises as to whether the degree of legislator’s interference in shaping the organizational structure of the Polish sports association is excessive and whether – without negating the need to introduce a ‘professional factor’ in the structure of the management authority of the Polish sports association – this result cannot be achieved in a less invasive way.”

“By arbitrarily introducing the method of electing part of the composition of the management board of a Polish sports association, the legislator may thus undermine associational democracy, preventing members of the Polish sports association from adopting the model that is most beneficial in their specific situation, and moreover deprives them of any influence on the selection of part of the management board, leading to to limit the decision-making autonomy of members of the Polish sports association. The Sports Act was the first significant legal act limiting the role of the state and public administration in sports and an important step towards accepting greater autonomy for sports organizations than before. The questioned regulations seem to limit this direction, raising serious doubts as to compliance with the principle of freedom of association specified in (…) the constitution,” we read.

What else raised President Duda’s doubts?

But that’s not all. The head of state also raises doubts about the “unconditional sanction introduced by the act for failure by the Polish sports association to fulfill the obligations of having a management board and an internal control body with a specified statutory gender parity and a mandatory member of the management board in the person of a national team player – in the form of the Polish sports association’s inability to obtain financing or co-financing tasks from the state budget and state earmarked funds, including obtaining funding referred to in (…) the Sports Act.

The statement emphasized that Duda shares the opinion that “the idea of ​​gender balance in the representation of Polish sports associations is right and worthy of support.” At the same time, he notes in the justification for the proposal that “its introduction should be realistic and flexible.” “It cannot be assumed ex lege that any failure to implement it results from bad will and must automatically be subject to a severe sanction in the form of a total inability to obtain financing for the activities of a given association, which is provided for in the challenged solution,” we read.

“The measure (sanction) of not providing financing may result in measurable, painful consequences. The Polish sports association to which it will be applied may have real problems with its functioning, including the need to cease its statutory activities,” writes the law firm. It was pointed out that “funds from the state budget and state earmarked funds are often the most important financing on the basis of which this entity conducts its activities.” “When introducing specific measures (sanctions), the legislator cannot ignore the existence of objective circumstances that prevent the Polish sports association from fulfilling the imposed obligations,” it was emphasized. Therefore, “in the president’s opinion, the challenged institution under (…) the act, due to the way it is presented, is very severe and disproportionate in relation to the goals that the legislator intends to achieve, which seems to conflict with the derivation from (…) constitution with the principle of proportionality.

“The subject of the appeal in the application (…) is also the inconsistency of the provision regulating the institution of the list of Polish sports associations, referred to in the Act, with the Constitution and the principle of legal unambiguity derived from it,” it was indicated.