(CAS) Bulletin - Tribunal Arbitral du Sport / TAS

a long-time practice, since in many occasions the
parties – coming from the same region and having
the same mother tongue (not necessarily English
or French) wished to make use of another language
for the procedure before the CAS. Until now, CAS
procedures have mostly been conducted – apart
from English and French – in Spanish, German and
Italian 7 .
The use of a different language is conditional upon
the agreement of the panel and the agreement of
the CAS. The fi rst condition is met if the arbitrators
appointed all agree and are all able to conduct the
arbitration in such language and draft the fi nal award
in the same language without the assistance of an
interpreter/translator: According to S. Lazareff “ il est
evident que l’arbitre ne doit pas accepter sa mission s’il n’entend
pas parfaitement la ou les langues de l’arbitrage ” 8 . As to the
agreement of CAS, it means that as the institution
is responsible for the awards it notifi es, it must be in
position to understand its content in accordance with
article R59 of the CAS code, in the event it must be
explained publicly or in case of an appeal against the
award before the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
As to the translation of documents (exhibits, statement
of appeal, appeal brief, answer to the appeal etc.),
“ the panel may order that the parties bear all or part of the
translation and interpreting costs”. Finally, the panel “may
order that all documents submitted in languages other than that
of the procedure be fi led together with a certifi ed translation
in the language of the procedure ”. In practice, however,
if all Arbitrators understand the original language in
which the supporting documents have been drafted
– and if the President of the panel agrees – said
documents may be accepted even without translation
in the language of the procedure 9 .
B. Language of the procedure in other
arbitration rules
Other than Article R29 CAS Code, in the majority
of the arbitration rules parties are free to determine
their working language of their choice (for exchange
of documents and the conduct of the hearing). If
they fail to determine the language, the panel will
do this. This is the case with Article 1045 para. 1 of
the Swiss Code on Civil Procedure (CCP) and, as we
will see below, Article 22 para. 1 UNCITRAL Model
Law. Some arbitration rules determine the language
of the procedure based on the language in which the
arbitration agreement was drafted: see e.g. Article 17
LCIA Rules, which distinguishes between the initial
7. See also the statistical Figure III at the end of this chapter.
8. See LAZAREFF S., La langue de l’arbitrage institutionnel, Bulletin de la
CCI, 1997, Vol. 8, n.1, p. 18; see also DERAINS Y., op.cit. p. 793.
9. See inter alia CAS 2006/A/1057 & TAS 2006/A/1095 ; see below.
language – that of the arbitration agreement – and
the language of the arbitration as determined by the
arbitrators 10 .
In practice the courts sometimes do not request
the translation of documents drafted in a foreign
language which they understand. The Swiss Federal
Tribunal does not usually request the translation of
documents or awards drafted in English in case of an
appeal for setting aside the award 11 .
Article 16 ICC Rules reads as follows: “In the absence
of an agreement by the parties, the Arbitral Tribunal shall
determine the language or languages of the arbitration, due
regard being given to all relevant circumstances, including the
language of the contract ”. Moreover, pursuant to Article
4 ICC Rules, the language of the arbitration should
be contained in the “Request for Arbitration” (along
with comments as to the place of arbitration, the
applicable rules of law etc.).
Similar to Article 16 ICC Rules, Article 22 of the
UNCITRAL Model law provides that parties are
free to agree on the language(s) to be used in the
arbitral proceedings. In the absence of such choice,
the arbitral tribunal shall determine the language(s)
to be used in the proceedings. As to the translations
of documents drafted in another language, these are
not requested automatically but may be ordered by
the arbitral tribunal.
As seen above, Article 17.1 LCIA Rules allows the
parties to choose the language of the arbitration, in
the arbitration agreement or subsequently in writing,
otherwise the language chosen will be the one of the
arbitration agreement 12 . In cases where the arbitration
agreement is written in two languages, the LCIA
Court will decide between them (Article 17, 2) 13 .
According to Article 17.3 LCIA Rules, the tribunal
has to consult the parties prior to changing the
language of the arbitration: parties have to be given
the opportunity to submit their comments in writing.
The tribunal will also take into account the initial
language of the arbitration (i.e. the disruption that
would be caused by switching languages) and any
other matters which it considers appropriate given all
the circumstances of the case 14 .
10. See POUDRET/BESSON, Comparative Law of International
Arbitration, 2nd ed., Sweet & Maxwell London, 2007, N. 579.
11. Id.
12. See Article 17 rule 2 LCIA Rules.
13. See NESBITT S. in MISTELIS (editor), Concise International Arbitration
– Kluwer Law International, 2010, ad art. 17, p. 433.
14. Article 17.3 LCIA Rules.
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