NEW GOVERNANCE STANDARD FOR SPORT IN SWITZERLAND

From the beginning of this year, a new governance and ethics legal framework (Branchenstandard) (Standard), which has been developed by the Swiss Olympic Association, which is the National Olympic Association of Switzerland, commonly known as Swiss Olympic, applies to regional sports organisations, clubs, and event organisers.

National Sports Federations in Switzerland have been subject to the Standard from the beginning of 2025 and certain standards came into force as of 1 January 2026.

The effect of the Standard, combined with the Federal Act on the Promotion of Sport and Physical Activity (Sportförderungsgesetz, SpoFöG) and the Sport Promotion Ordinance (Sportförderungsverordnung, SpoFöV), is to provide a more coherent approach to transparency, integrity, and athlete welfare across the entire sports ecosystem in Switzerland.

Federal funding is conditional upon compliance with these measures, which include:

• a clear leadership and decision-making structure;
• periodic elections at least every four years;
• a gender representation rule for both genders of at least 40% for positions in the highest management bodies of National Sports Federations;
• basic conflict-of-interest provisions; and
• appropriate member and athlete participation rights.

Also, financial governance must satisfy an appropriate standard. Annual accounts should be prepared transparently and be subject to independent review. For smaller sports organisations, a lay audit, generally, is sufficient, whilst larger organisations may follow ordinary or limited audit provisions.

Furthermore, key governance documents, such as statutes, organisational charts and essential meeting outcomes must be published through a website or a secure member portal, ensuring that internal rules and decisions can be readily understood by stakeholders.

The Standard requires that its addressees are subject to the Statutes on Ethics and Doping in Swiss Sport, thus recognising the authority of Swiss Sport Integrity, as the competent body for ethics and doping-violation investigations, and the Swiss Sports Tribunal as the adjudicatory instance. Also, the Standard introduces structured expectations for ethics and participants’ welfare.

Sports organisations in Switzerland are expected to:

• conduct periodic ethics analyses;
• appoint a responsible person; and
• maintain accessible reporting channels.

Measures must address:

• violence prevention;
• protection of minors;
• avoidance of overload; and
• crisis management.

Safety considerations, including accident-prevention processes, must reflect the sports organisation’s size and risk profile.

Swiss Olympic monitors compliance with these requirements, whilst the Federal Office for Sport (FOSPO) oversees sports organisations, which receive Federal funding.

We advise on all aspects of sports governance issues in Switzerland and further information is available from Dr Lucien Valloni by emailing him at valloni@valloni.ch.