Decision of the Federal Tribunal regarding the exhaustion of arbitral instances before recourse to the Federal Tribunal

Facts

A. is a former international-level biathlete who has won several Olympic medals. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) accused him of having violated the anti-doping rules between 2010 and 2014. The IBU brought the case before the Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD), which found A. guilty and suspended him for four years.

A. filed a civil law appeal with the Federal Tribunal to have this decision annulled. At the same time, he challenged the decision before the Appeals Arbitration Division of the CAS.

The Federal Tribunal declared the appeal inadmissible on the grounds that A. had not exhausted the available arbitral remedies before bringing the case before the Federal Tribunal.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal confirmed that the rule of exhaustion of prior arbitral instances also applies in the field of international arbitration, despite the absence of an express provision to that effect in the Federal Tribunal Act (LTF) and the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA).

This rule aims to ensure that the Federal Tribunal only has to deal with a case once, subject to the exceptions admitted by the case law. The Federal Tribunal noted that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) itself has adopted this rule in its Code, requiring the appellant to have exhausted the prior legal…