EU member states ratify Macolin Convention for 1 September 2019

The Council of Europe (CoE) has this afternoon confirmed that the mandate of the ‘Macolin Convention’ on the manipulation of sports will be enforced from 1 September 2019.

Established in 2014, the Macolin Convention seeks to develop an EU member-wide cooperative framework to eliminate all-levels of sports corruption/manipulation, through information sharing and data exchange.

Furthermore, the Macolin Convention seeks to provide EU member states’ regulatory, legal and police enforcement stakeholders with common definitions, cooperative mechanisms and legal clarity for prosecuting match-fixing and sports corruption offenders.

In its update, the CoE confirmed that Switzerland became the fifth Council of Europe member state to ratify the convention – following Norway, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, triggering Macolin’s ‘entry into force’.

“The Macolin Convention is good news for everyone who values fair play and integrity in sport,” said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland.

“The convention is a major step forward in the fight against corruption in sport and has received firm backing from major sports organisations and partners including FIFA and UEFA. I urge all of our member states, and countries around the world, to sign and ratify the convention as soon as possible.”

Despite Brexit, the UK government will support inter-state cooperation networks established by the Macolin Convention, with Sports & Civic Society Minister Mims Davies signing the UK up to Macolin cooperation frameworks in December 2018.

A total of 37 countries, including Australia, have now signed the convention. Other non-European countries, including Cape Verde and Morocco, have also expressed an interest in joining.