NEWSLETTER-2019-metin

347 SPORTS LAW ing the annulment of the CAS award from the Swiss Federal Tribunal (“SFT”), which is the highest judicial authority in Switzerland. Admissibility of the Action for Annulment While examining an action for annulment of international awards, SFT examines (i) whether it has jurisdiction to hear the request of annulment (ii) whether the award that is requested to be annulled is a challengeable decision, (iii) whether the party who is requesting the annulment has standing to appeal and, lastly, (iv) whether the request of the annulment was submitted within the time limits 4 . Jurisdiction of SFT Pursuant to Article R28 of the CAS Code, the seat of arbitration ( lex arbitri ) is Lausanne, Switzerland in CAS proceedings. The seat of arbitration never changes, even if the hearings are conducted, and/or the final decision is rendered, outside of Switzerland. In fact, in CAS arbitrations, wherever the proceedings are conducted, all CAS pro- ceedings are subject to the same procedure, and this procedure cannot be changed regardless of the country in which the parties are located 5 . Since the seat of arbitration is determined as Switzerland for these reasons, the legal remedies that can be applied against CAS awards and competent authorities in this matter are determined according to Swiss law 6 . In other words, since the appellate authority one can apply to appeal the arbitral awards rendered by CAS is determined by Swiss Law, pursuant to the Swiss Private International Law Act (PILA) 7 , an action for annulment must be filed with the SFT against the arbitral awards rendered by CAS. 4 Rigozzi, Antonio : Challenging Awards of the Court of Arbitration for Sport Jour- nal of International Dispute Settlement, V. 1, Issue 1, 1 February 2010, p. 217– 265, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnlids/idp010 (Access date: 08.01.2019). 5 Ekşi, Nuray : Spor Tahkim Hukuku, Beta Yayınları, 2015, p. 544 ff. 6 Kocasakal, Hatice : Sportif Uyuşmazlıkların Tahkim Yoluyla Çözümü ve Spor Tahkim Mahkemesi, Vedat Kitapçılık, Istanbul, 2013, p. 353. 7 English Translation of the Swiss Private International Law Act, http://www. andreasbucher-law.ch/images/stories/pil_act_1987_as_from_1_1_2019.pdf (Ac- cess date: 17.01.2019).