Development of Chess in Ukraine: Contemporary Matters of Legal Framework

Andriy V. Shulga

Stable and progressive development of a certain sector largely depends on the “quality” of legal rules designed to regulate relations in the relevant area. Therefore, proper state regulation in general and each sector in particular is one of the main tasks of the State.

General trends in regulation

Considering regulation of any specific sport in Ukraine, we should first distinguish two interrelated trends: (1) presence of generalised/basic legislation designed to regulate relations in sport in general without specialisation in different kinds of sport; (2) lack of sufficient statutory provisions aimed at enhancing the legal regulation of each individual sport.

The “chess industry” in Ukraine is no exception. Thus, among the major regulations are On Physical Culture and Sports Act of Ukraine of 24 December 1993, No.3808-XII, On Anti-Doping Control in Sport Act of Ukraine of 5 April 2001, No.2353-III, On Support of Olympic, Paralympic Sports Movement and High Performance Sport in Ukraine Act of 14 September 2000, No.1954-III.

But these acts do not contain any provisions dealing specifically with the development of chess as a sport. This lack of regulation by law cannot but cause concern about the future of chess in Ukraine.

National program for development of chess in Ukraine

Approval of National program dedicated to development of chess in Ukraine may serve as one of the important ways to overcome the lack of an adequate legal framework and as impetus in the development of chess in Ukraine. The existence of such a program can perform multiple functions in the development of chess in Ukraine:

— providing industry with bespoke legal regulation;

— identifying key vectors in the field development;

— ensuring stability of the branch;

— creating a legal framework for adequate financing of the sector.

Even though the program’s legal rules shall be specific, procedural and regulatory-planning in nature, their presence cannot be overestimated.

According to Article 2 of On State Target Programs Act of Ukraine of 18 March 2004, No.1621-IV a targeted programme may be developed, in particular, when:

— outstanding issues exist which may not be resolved by means of regional or branch management and need governmental support, coordination between central and local executive authorities as well as bodies of local self-government authorities;

— there is a need for an inter-branch and regional network in technology-related sectors and industries.

In addition, matters relating to the development of chess may be resolved by means of disbursements which are annually allocated in the State Budget of Ukraine to the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine through a budget program titled Organisational and Financial Support for High Performance Sport. In accordance with On State Budget of Ukraine Act for 2012 of 22 December 2011, No.4282-VI 710, 3 million have been allocated within the budgetary program called Development of Physical Culture, High Performance Sport and Auxiliary Sports.

According to Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of On State Target Programs Act of Ukraine, national programs of economic, scientific, social, cultural development, environmental protection must be approved by means of a statute.

Unfortunately, no sport in today’s Ukraine can “boast” support of a nationwide development program approved by a statute. Instead, development programs in football and hockey have been adopted at the level of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Thus, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Complex Program for Development of Football in 2004-2008 by means of Decree No.904 of 13 July 2004 and the Concept of the National Program for Ukrainian Hockey by means of Order No.675-p of 30 August 2007.

Yet, in case Ukraine desires its sport to compete at global level, national programs of sports development need to be developed and implemented. Thus, a specific development program should be approved for each specific sport. And on the basis of the national programs, each region should be able to devise and approve local programs which would not go beyond a national and would be aimed at resolving one their goals for a particular sport, at the same time taking into account the peculiarities of any given region. Only under such conditions can we place confidence in Ukrainian sport entering global competition. After all, among other things the existence of a national program directed at development of a specific sport may serve as the foundation for budget financing of appropriate sports and sporting events bereft of which it is virtually impossible to achieve the development of sport in the modern world.

National program for development of physical culture and sport It is important to note the fact that today the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine has developed a Draft National target social program for development of physical culture and sports for the period of 2012—2016. Among the major priorities of the program is development of Olympic, non-Olympic sports, sports for the disabled as well as sports which are not included in the Paralympics and Deaflympics which involve disabled people.

This program includes implementation of the following tasks and activities:

— construction of the National Palace of Chess;

— organization of mass physical recreational and sporting events at national level;

— training and ensuring participation of Ukrainian athletes in sporting events at national and international levels, including chess, etc.

Nonetheless, the program does not address several other important issues in the field of chess, including: propaganda and promotion of chess among citizens; facilitation of training of highly skilled chess players, coaches, judges; support of successful performances of Ukrainian chess players in World Chess Olympiads, team and individual world and European championships as well as international competitions; organisation and holding national and international chess competitions in Ukraine; development and strengthening of international links with national chess federations of other countries, the World Chess Federation and other international sporting and social organisations, etc.

Apart from the lack of adequate legal support for any given sport, a National target social program for development of physical culture and sports has the following shortcomings:

— large size (drafting of a large document is contemplated, from which it would be problematic to glean the necessary standards);

— high risk that some of the important branch regulations will not find their place in the program (the principle of legal economy may play a negative role here);

— lack of stability of the document (in view of ample number of sports one may expect numerous amendments of the document, and considering that the program will be approved by means of a statute, those changes will require the adoption of additional statutes).

Conclusions

In view of the above considerations the adoption of a stand-alone National program for development of chess in Ukraine dealing with all matters in the sport in question is of topical interest. Certainly, the national program for development of sport as a whole may be complemented endlessly by various legal rules designed to regulate new relations in various sports, but would this be an effective approach? The question remains.

In our view, an effective legal, organisational and financial support for developing chess in Ukraine requires a special document dealing exclusively with the development of chess. Implementation of such a project within the national program for development of sport in general would be an extremely difficult task.