The legal nature of the liability of organizer of sporting events

Abstract

This paper provides the analysis of the legal nature of liabilityof organizer of sporting events . The Law on Sports explicitly prescribes the obligations of organizers of sporting events which are aimed at maintaining appropriate safety standards during sporting events and combating illegal and inappropriate behavior that is contrary to the goal and social purpose of sporting events. If non-compliance with these obligations causes damage to athletes, spectators, other participants or third parties, the Law on Sports refers to the application of general rules on liability contained in the Law on Obligations. The rules referred to in the Law on Sports regulate the liability of organizers of large gatherings contained in Article 181, which represents a special type of liability regardless of the fault of the organizer. Regulating the responsibility of the organizer of gathering as a special type of non-contractual, objective liability for damage, the legislator accepted the position that the gathering of a large number of people indoors or outdoors itself is a state of increased danger, for which it is justified to impose an obligation to its organizer to compensate for such damage regardless of his guilt. However, as the Law on Sports provides for liability of the organizer of sporting events due to non-compliance with its obligations, it may be concluded that the organizer may be released from liability by providing a proof that he has fulfilled his legal obligations. The author of this paper therefore deals with the analysis of the rules on the liability of organizers of a sporting events and the rules on the liability of the organizers of the large gatherings from the Law on Obligations in order to point out certain inconsistenciesand unclarities in current legal framework.