General Equal Treatment Act in Sports

After having obtained the starting permit as trotting racer for professional racer Edelbert Ohmer despite his exceeding the age limit of 70 years in the preliminary injunction proceedings at the end of March 2012, the law firm of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek also prevailed in the main proceedings at the beginning of July.

Now, the grounds for the decision issued by the Regional Court of Berlin on July 04, 2012 (Case 22 O 157/12) were issued, which are of relevance for sports in general. Dr. Frank Mitzkus, Partner at the law firm: "In its core, the decision concerns the inadmissibility of age discrimination in sports. The Regional Court of Berlin, however, goes even further and declares the General Equal Treatment Act – which is to protect persons even against other discrimination, including for disability, gender or religion – applicable in the field of sports."
Dr. Johan-Michel Menke, the firm's sports law expert, finds the following noteworthy: "According to the decision of the Regional Court of Berlin, the General Equal Treatment Act is not only applicable to employee athletes (as a rule, team athletes), but also to independent athletes (as a rule, individual athletes), as far as the conditions to access to gainful employment are concerned."