The president decided on the sports act

President Andrzej Duda referred the amendment to the Sports Act to the Constitutional Tribunal. The president's doubts were raised by the point about the obligatory increase in the composition of the boards of Polish sports associations by a representative or representatives of national team athletes. Their selection would be made by the national team players themselves, bypassing the general meeting of association delegates. For every seven members of the management board of the Polish sports association, there would be at least one representative of the national team players.

“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 denying 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,” we read in a message posted on the president's website.

Moreover, as reported, the President of the Republic of Poland has doubts about the unconditional sanction introduced by the act for failure to fulfill the obligations of the Polish sports association to have 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. The penalty is to deprive the Polish sports association of financing or co-financing of tasks from the state budget and state earmarked funds.

“The President of the Republic of Poland, while sharing the opinion that the idea of ​​gender balance in the representation of Polish sports associations is correct and worthy of support, also notes in the justification of the motion that its implementation should be realistic and flexible. It cannot be assumed ex lege that any failure to implement it in life results from bad will and must automatically be subject to a severe sanction in the form of complete inability to obtain financing for the activities of a given association, which is provided for in the challenged solution (sanction). Failure to provide financing may result in measurable, painful consequences,” the statement noted.

The amendment to the Sports Act was adopted by the Sejm on November 21. 247 MPs voted in favor, 22 voted against and 178 abstained.

The announcement on the ministry's website indicates the “key points of the amendment”. This includes “balanced gender representation in the authorities of Polish sports associations (PZS)”.

The point is that “in the case of management boards with 2 to 5 members, they must consist of not less than one woman and not less than one man; in the case of PZS management boards with more than 5 members, the representation of each gender should be at least 30%; similar rules apply to internal control bodies.

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The amendment also provides for “support for pregnant and postpartum athletes.” As we read: “the participation of representatives of national team players in the boards of the PZS will be guaranteed; the period of receiving a sports scholarship by members of the national team after the birth of a child will be extended from 6 to 12 months; it will also increase – from 50% to 81.5%/ – the amount of the scholarship received during this period; sportswomen will have the same rights as women working full-time.