ExeC Meeting summary

ExeC Meeting summary

On June 13th the EHF Executive Committee in their meeting in Istanbul has approved several measures which shall be introduced for the start of the 2009/2010 season.

As a consequence of alleged manipulation cases that came to light in the season 2008/2009 the Executive has already decided about short term measures for the decisive periods of the European Cup / Champions League final phase as well as the qualifications for the Men’s EHF EURO 2010 in Austria and play offs for the Women’s World Championship 2009 in China.

The travel organisation of the referees was dealt with by the EHF Office not only until the airport of arrival, but all the way to the playing hall with a publication of the referees only shortly prior to the match (quarterfinal and semi-final of the Men’s CL and semi-final of the Women’s CL). In the semi-finals and finals of the Men’s CL an additional referee guide (neutral, from the list of EHF delegates) was provided.

Furthermore, there is no cash flow between clubs and referees / delegates; the complete financial element is dealt with by the EHF office.

The match evaluation was no longer in hands of the EHF delegate at the venue as it was done by a neutral refereeing expert from the DVD of the match (CL Men and Women).

All referees and delegates were informed by the EHF regarding their rights and duties concerning the reporting of any kind of incidents surrounding the matches.

The experience resulting from these measures as well as the parallel process carried out both EHF internally and with external expertise several measures were presented to the Executive.

Contributions were given by Federations e.g. GER, FRA, ESP, Leagues and Clubs, as well as the EHF bodies on technical level e.g. Competitions / Methods Commission, Committees and Boards, Juridical bodies as well as individual referees, delegates and lecturers.

Meetings on international sport level with the Team Sport Federations UEFA, FIBA Europe, CEV, AIR, and IIHF were used to garner an exchange of information and to take profit from the experience of other sports.

Furthermore, the media input was taken into account in order to use all channels dealing with handball. Contact was established with the International Handball Federation to safeguard that activities on technical level are coordinated in the best possible way.

Finally on June 13th the Executive approved the following measures which will be implemented in the statutes (partly) and regulations and put in force for the new season:

1. EHF Anti-Corruption and Fair Competition Act (working title) to be approved by the e.o. Congress in October

2. EHF Code of Conduct Agreement for Federations, Clubs,… - part of the registration process for EHF competitions

3. Agreement to the EHF Code of Conduct for EHF Officials – part of the nomination and delegation process

4. Implementation of the EHF Integrity Programme together with g-partner, a specialised company. This Integrity programme includes:

• Developing the Integrity strategy
• Compliance programmes to be developed, implemented and enforced
• Risk assessment and risk control to be included in the management decisions
• Dilemma training – consistent relevant training, awareness and understanding
• Investigations of possible manipulations attempts
• Ethical hotline and whistler blower protection
• Communication and reporting

As a consequence the EHF officials will be trained to follow the programme and how to use the hotline installed for the protected reporting system.

5. Technical measures on the level of refereeing including organisational, financial, evaluation and principle procedures:

• Installation of a group of top referees for top level matches with additional education and guidance. First educational measure will be a Top Referee Seminar for 35 referee couples in Vienna at the end of August.
• Increase of payment for top level matches (to be defined individually by EHF) from € 400 to € 800 for each referee and paid by EHF.
• Nomination of referees 2-3 days prior to the match by EHF together with the nomination of an additional delegate for guiding the referees and analysing the match performance.
  A complete secret referee nomination was challenged by various parties involved and could not be put in force, due to different reasons beyond the realm of the EHF e.g. logistic reasons in the organiser countries, visa, and involvement of the National Federation of the nominated referees.
• Double functions of referees also having top functions on sport-political or professional level in handball are not permitted any more.
• A strict reporting system on any kind of suspicious approach will be the basis for the further use of all nominated officials.

The EHF Executive Committee and the related technical bodies together with the professionals herewith underline their interest to substantially contribute to the proper carrying out of the EHF competitions.