The Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions was done at Magglingen/Macolin on 18 September 2014, in English and French, both texts equally authentic, in a single copy deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe. The Secretary General transmits certified copies to member States, observers, the European Union and States invited to sign. It is not the 1989 Anti-Doping Convention, nor the 1985 Spectator Violence Convention, which the preamble only recalls.

Article 1: to combat manipulation in order to protect the integrity of sport and sports ethics, respecting the autonomy of sport; prevention, detection, sanction and co-operation among public authorities, sports organisations and betting operators. Article 2: human rights, legality, proportionality, private life and personal data. Article 3 defines manipulation as an intentional arrangement, act or omission aimed at an improper alteration of the result or course of a competition, so as to remove its unpredictability and obtain an undue advantage. Illegal, irregular and suspicious sports betting are defined at high level, without a market catalogue.

Chapter II requires, still at high level, domestic co-ordination, risk assessment, education, duties of sports organisations and organisers, transparency of financing, a framework for the betting authority and for operators, and measures against illegal betting, without a blocking or interception handbook. Article 13: a national platform for information, whose name is notified to the Secretary General. Article 14: data protection in exchanges of information, limited to what is necessary.

Article 15: domestic law must make it possible to punish the manipulation of sports competitions as a criminal offence when the facts include coercion, corruption or fraud as defined by that law. Article 16 links, at high level, laundering of the proceeds to the offences in Articles 15 and 17, without a customer-due-diligence manual. Articles 17 and 18: aiding and abetting, and liability of legal persons. Article 19: territorial, flag and nationality jurisdiction, with a possible reservation. Articles 22 and 25: effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, plus confiscation, still at high level. Article 26: the widest possible judicial co-operation on the basis of existing instruments.

Article 31 establishes the Convention Follow-up Committee. Article 32: entry into force on the first day of the month after three months from five consents, including at least three Council of Europe member States — 1 September 2019; non-member States may be invited. Article 33 does not affect earlier compatible anti-doping conventions. Article 37: reservations only to Articles 19.2 and 36.1. Article 40: denunciation effective after three months. Depositary: the Secretary General.

The text consulted is the official CETS No. 215 version on rm.coe.int. The convention is open to States outside the Council, because manipulation is treated as a transnational threat, not a merely European one.

Cover: the federal sports centre at Magglingen/Macolin, the venue where signature opened; we do not claim the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions; Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (CETS No. 215).