LEX SPORTIVA AND INTERNATIONAL SPORTS LAW CO-RELATION

International legal norms for the regulation of sports activities at the universal and regional level, developed by states and international intergovernmental organizations, form a set of norms that ensure international cooperation in the field of sports — international sports law. This article is devoted to the phenomenon of lex sportiva, as one of the most important elements in the regulation of cross-border sports relations. The author examines the legal nature of the lex sportiva norms and their place in the system of private international law, and also predetermines the prospects for the development of the norms in question, touching upon the current problems associated with their application. The article examines the relationship between customary law and soft law — Lex Sportiva. The reasons for the emergence of sports law are due to the very existence of sports. Sports activities, as well as in many cases the holding of sports competitions, require special legal regulations for the normal functioning. The presence of athletes and officials in sports, independently or jointly forming the norms of law, ensures the conditions for participation in competitions, the conditions for holding sports competitions, the certainty and validity of the result of the competition, the possibility of imposing sanctions in case of violation of the conditions for holding sports competitions. Consequently, these Lex Sportiva rules, together with customary law, constitute sports law. In cases where there is a conflict of law in sport, the rules governing sporting competition as well as sporting rules of law prevail over ordinary rules of law as they have been specifically adopted to regulate sporting events. In sports, the principle Lex specialis derogat legi generali (Latin «a special law cancels a general law») is in force, according to which the special rules of sports law prevail over ordinary law.