ArmInfo. On the appeal of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) issued an opinion on the application of the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 97 of the Treaty on the EAEU in relation to athletes engaged in working in sports clubs of the Union member states.
According to clause 2 of Article 97 of the Treaty on the EAEU, the countries of the Union do not establish and do not apply the restrictions stipulated by their legislation for the protection of the national labor market in relation to the workers of the Member States. The exceptions are the restrictions established in order to ensure national security and public order.
The EAEU court concluded that the non-use by Member States of clause 2 of Article 97 of the Treaty on the EAEU in relation to the work carried out by professional athletes is a barrier to achieving the goal of creating a single labor market within the EAEU.
In addition, in the opinion of the Big Board of the EAEU Court, member states are obliged to execute the decisions of the EEC, and if they disagree with them, they are entitled to appeal these decisions in the prescribed manner. Non-compliance with the decisions of the Commission, which entered into legal force and are not contested in the established manner, is not consistent with the Treaty on the EAEU.
To recall, on May 11, 2017, the EEC Board decided to deprive athletes of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union of the status of legionnaires in other states of the union. For example, Armenian or Belarusian footballers will not be considered legionaries in the Russian championship. The EEC then explained that this is an example of what Eurasian integration provides for citizens of the union - in this case, the removal of barriers in the labor market, but in fact athletes continued to face problems. This made the EEC turn to the court of the EAEU.