FEI: veterinari e altri funzionari ufficiali? o con noi, o con la GCL

Bologna. dicembre 2015 – La mai è indirizzata a “All National Federations, The International Show Jumping Officials Club, The International Jumping Riders Club, The Alliance of Jumping Organisers, The Organisers of the Global Champions League Events, The FEI Jumping Committee The FEI Bureau”.

Il testo:

“To all FEI Officials – Jumping By email Lausanne (SUI), 8 December 2015 Re.

Officiating at the Global Champions League Events Dear FEI Officials, This is to officially inform you that the Global Champions League (GCL) Events have not been sanctioned/approved by the FEI and, as a result, FEI Officials will not be authorised to officiate in any capacity at any GCL Event(s).

Please kindly note that this decision has been approved by the FEI Bureau on the basis that the FEI wishes to protect all its Officials. The Global Champions League rules have neither been submitted nor approved by the FEI, meaning that the FEI cannot endorse these rules from either a legal or sporting perspective. Given the very large prize money on offer, the potential for Officials’ decision to be challenged is high. If you were to officiate at these Unsanctioned Events (i.e. outside the jurisdiction of the FEI), the FEI Rules would not apply and the FEI would be unable to protect you in the event of, for instance, a legal action arising from any decision that an FEI Official may take.

Additionally, there is also no FEI insurance coverage for FEI Officials at Unsanctioned Events. The FEI’s Unsanctioned Events rule specifically states that it is applicable to Officials, so if an FEI Official participates in an Unsanctioned Event then such FEI Official will be ineligible to participate in an International or National Event for the next six months (please see art. 156.8 of the FEI General Regulations: “An Official is not eligible to participate in an International Event or National Event (and so may not be invited or nominated to participate in such event) if he has participated, in the six (6) months prior to the first day of the International Event or National Event in question, in an Unsanctioned Event.

An Official or his National Federation may challenge the application of this Article 156.9, or seek a waiver thereof in exceptional circumstances, by application to the Secretary General. A denial of that application may be appealed to the FEI Tribunal, such appeal to be heard on the papers without a live hearing unless the FEI Tribunal orders otherwise.”). Please kindly note also that the recent Belgian Competition Authority decision specifically does not order the suspension of art.156.8 with regard to FEI Officials and therefore the FEI is entitled to apply the Unsanctioned Event rule against FEI Officials.

As you may know, the Global Champions League has invited the FEI to send veterinarians to its Events and to sample horses, but if a horse were to test positive 2 the FEI would have no jurisdiction to prosecute the case and therefore cannot guarantee in accordance with its own rules that horses would be competing clean of prohibited substances. Therefore the FEI will not do any testing at such Unsanctioned Events.

Finally, and for the avoidance of any doubt, FEI Officials are allowed to officiate at the Global Champions Tour, which is an FEI sanctioned event, and other events if the Schedule has been approved by the FEI, but not at the Global Champions League competition. I thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely yours, Sabrina Ibáñez FEI Secretary General”

8 dicembre 2015

p.s. Errata Corrige: nel titolo e nel sommario era stato scritto erroneamente “Tour”, ma è League: Global Champions League, come compare nel testo.