Regulations on Working with Intermediaries

Transcription

1 Regulations on Working with Intermediaries Regulation Code KSZ Entry into force Last modification New regulation Validity Until withdrawal Version no. 1/2015 Responsible for the regulation Responsible for regulation and issuer Competition Directorate Hungarian Football Federation Administration

2 Table of Contents SCOPE... 3 GENERAL PRINCIPLES... 3 REQUISITES FOR REGISTRATION... 5 REPRESENTATION CONTRACT... 6 DISCLOSURE AND PUBLICATION... 7 PAYMENTS TO INTERMEDIARIES... 7 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST... 9 SANCTIONS... 9 DISPUTES... 9 TRANSITIONAL MEASURES CLOSING PROVISIONS Annex Intermediary Declaration for Natural Persons Intermediary Declaration for Legal Persons Annex Representation Contract Sample Registration Form for Intermediaries

3 DEFINITION OF AN INTERMEDIARY (1) A natural or legal person, who for a fee or free of charge represents players and/or sports clubs in negotiations with a view to concluding a contract, or represents clubs in negotiations with a view to concluding transfer agreement. (2) The terms referring to natural persons are applicable to both genders, and the provisions of the regulations are also applicable to legal persons. The use of singular also relates to plural and vice versa. PREAMBLE At the FIFA Congress held on June 3, 2009 a decision was made about the comprehensive reform of the player-agent system applying a new approach based on the intermediary concept. In this respect a new regulation was accepted at the 64th FIFA Congress on June 11, 2014 that came into force on April 1, Based on Act I of 2004 on Sports (with special regard to provisions concerning sports specialists) and with regard to responsibilities determined by FIFA Statutes on the cooperation with intermediaries the Hungarian Football Federation (hereinafter: HFF) formulates the Regulations of HFF on Working with Intermediaries (hereinafter: Regulation) according to the following. 1. SCOPE (1) This Regulation is aimed at intermediary activities in relation to the engagement of the services of an intermediary by players and clubs to: a) conclude an employment contract between a player and a club; b) conclude a transfer agreement between two clubs. (2) The aim of the Regulation is that in Hungary: a) the intermediary activities could be used by all players and clubs with the same conditions; b) the rights of the players and the clubs, the order and fairness of the Hungarian football be protected; c) those who breach the Regulation could not avoid accountability and the appropriate disciplinary measures. (3) Intermediary activity can only be performed according to the present Regulation. (4) This Regulation covers all sport clubs registered by HFF, all players of any nationality being in legal relationship with the clubs, all intermediaries of any nationality concluding contract with the players. 2. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 1) The football players and clubs are entitled to engage the services of intermediaries who represent them and their interests when concluding a contract and/or transfer agreement during their negotiations

4 2) Point 11 of the Definitions section of the FIFA Statutes confirms the definition of official persons, based on which the intermediary cannot fulfill a position neither directly, nor indirectly in FIFA, in UEFA or in any other Confederation, in national associations, in HFF, in clubs or in organizations and business entities related to these institutions. The engagement of officials as intermediaries by players and clubs is prohibited. 3) The above-described activity is not regarded intermediary activity when it is performed by the employee of the club in the interest of his own club and/or registered player. 4) The football player can only act as intermediary in his own interest and cannot offer intermediary services for fee or free of charge to other players or clubs. An active football player cannot be registered into the intermediary system of HFF. 2./A RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS 1) In accordance with Article 8 below the intermediary may represent the interests of any players or clubs if assignment was given, may negotiate in the name and on behalf of the client the conditions of concluding a contract or transfer agreement with the player. 2) The intermediary can also perform his activities in company form, but his employees can only do administrative work. Only an intermediary is entitled to represent players and/or clubs. 3) The intermediary has the following obligations: a) to observe at all times the statutes and regulations of FIFA, the confederations, national associations and HFF; b) to ensure that all transactions concluded with his cooperation comply with all abovementioned statutes and regulations; c) not to induce in any way the contracted player of a club to terminate his contract before its validity, or to breach his rights and obligations contained in the agreement; d) on request to provide all necessary information to FIFA and HFF; e) to ensure that his name and signature, as well as the name of his client appear in every contract concluded by him; f) to pay the registration fee. 3. REGISTRATION OF INTERMEDIARIES 1) For the sake of transparency HFF is operating a registration system that has to be publicized in accordance with Article 6. The registration consists of two parts: - preliminary registration that makes the concerned person an intermediary - registration every time when they are involved in concluding contract with a player and/or club, or a transfer agreement is made. 2) By signing and submitting the Intermediary Declaration anybody who meets the requirements may request his registration as intermediary. The registration is always valid until December 31 of the given year, and must be renewed after this date. The annual registration fee is 50,000 HUF + VAT that is due on the submission of the Intermediary Declaration

5 3) Furthermore, registered intermediaries shall pay administration fee, when they take part individually or through their company in the conclusion of a contract or transfer agreement, the registration fee of which is 20,000 HUF + VAT on occasion, and which amount shall be paid against invoice within 30 days following the transfer period. 4) In the framework of the above-mentioned registration system the players and clubs engaging the services of an intermediary must submit to HFF the Intermediary Declaration (Annex 1 or Annex 2) and the representation agreement for all contracts and transfer agreements concluded. 4. REQUISITES FOR REGISTRATION 1) The requisite of the registration is that the intermediary has impeccable reputation and fully meets his obligations. 2) If the intermediary concerned is a legal person, the person representing the company with legal personality has to comply with the specifications of paragraph (2) and during the registration has to make a declaration about who is/are doing the intermediary activity within the company. Any legal person who pursuant to the Hungarian regulations is under liquidation procedure cannot be an intermediary. 3) The natural or legal person against whom criminal proceeding is or was initiated by reason of unlawful manipulation of the results or events of a football match, due to reasonable suspicion of publicly indicted or intentional crime, or was convicted by final judgment cannot be registered (until not exempted), and also the person who is under disciplinary punishment, or who was convicted by the court for publicly indicted crime cannot be registered. 4) Furthermore, HFF must also be informed about the fact that the intermediary engaged by the club and/or the player is not in contractual relation with FIFA, with the confederations, associations and leagues. 5) The federation shall register the intermediary, if the disqualifying condition specified in paragraphs (3) and (4) does not exist and he/she has met his obligations. 6) HFF keeps record of all intermediaries who have lost their impeccable reputation due to the breaching of any regulation, or as a result of the investigation of the complaint submitted against them. 7) The player, or club may submit a complaint against the intermediary who within one year prior to the registration was in contractual legal relation, if based on any reasons the breach of

6 regulations or of the impeccable reputation can be presumed. If the Certification and Dispute Settlement Committee of HFF states the trueness of reasons in the procedure initiated based on appropriate grounds, the intermediary looses his impeccable reputation and is cancelled from the registration system. 8) The impeccable reputation can be lost among others for the following reasons: - breach of Statutes of FIFA, UEFA, or HFF - breach of content of the Representation Declaration - causing offence to members of FIFA, UEFA, or HFF in public, - fulfillment of those listed in paragraphs (4) and (5) - acceptance of any payment without representation contract or Intermediary Declaration. 9) HFF is publishing on its homepage the list of intermediaries who have lost their impeccable reputation and informs FIFA, and in case of foreign nationality also the concerned national federation. 10) All players or clubs who conclude a contract with an intermediary who has lost the impeccable reputation commit disciplinary offence. 5. REPRESENTATION CONTRACT 1) The players and/or club shall inform HFF about all details of payments paid or to be paid to the intermediary. For investigation purposes the players and/or clubs shall present to the competent commissions of FIFA, or HFF all contracts, agreements and memoranda signed with the intermediaries. The agreements concluded by the players and/or clubs with the intermediaries should contain that nothing will prevent the presentation of the above-mentioned information and documents. 2) The representation contract should be enclosed to the transfer agreement or contract. The players and/or clubs shall pay attention to the fact that any contract or transfer agreement that was concluded using intermediary services contain the name and signature of the intermediary. A representation contract can only be concluded with registered intermediary. 3) The representation contract shall be submitted to HFF in three copies within 5 working days after signature. 4) A representation contract can be concluded for maximum 2 years period

7 5) The players and clubs shall specify in the relevant representation contract the nature of the legal relationship (for example, whether the intermediary s activity constitutes a service, consultancy, job placement or any other legal relationship). 6) The main points of the legal relationship entered into between the player and/or club and an intermediary shall be recorded in writing prior to the intermediary commencing his activities. The representation contract must contain the following minimum details: the names of the parties, the scope of services, the duration of the legal relationship, the remuneration due to the intermediary, the general terms of payment, the date of conclusion, the termination provisions and the signatures of the parties. The contract shall explicitly specify the party who will pay the intermediary fee, the type of the fee and the conditions based on which the payment of fee becomes due. The contract sample enclosed in Annex 3 should be applied as minimum requirement with the stipulation that the parties may agree on other conditions, too. 7) The contract may not contain provision for the automatic extension of the contract. The representation contract may be extended by the concluding and submission of a new contract. 8) In case of players less than 18 years of age contracts for sports activities, for employment or transfer cannot be concluded with the help of an intermediary, all agreements to the contrary are regarded null and void. 9) The provision of the representation contract concluded between the player and the intermediary that grants to the intermediary share from the future transfer fee of the player is regarded null and void. The annulment does not affect the validity of the other contract provisions. 6. DISCLOSURE AND PUBLICATION 1) The HFF shall make public on its official website the names of all intermediaries that have registered, as well as the different contracts and transfer agreements in which they were involved. 2) In addition, HFF shall also publish the total amount of all remunerations and payments actually made to intermediaries paid by the registered players and by the affiliated clubs. 7. PAYMENTS TO INTERMEDIARIES 1) The amount of remuneration due to an intermediary who has been engaged to act on a player s behalf shall be calculated on the basis of the player s basic gross income for the entire duration of the contract (that is not including the other benefits, like car, apartment, score bonus and/or any other bonuses or other benefits)

8 2) Clubs that engage the services of an intermediary shall remunerate him by payment of a lump sum agreed prior to the conclusion of the relevant transaction. If agreed, such payment can be made in installments. 3) Unless otherwise agreed the players and clubs shall pay the following remuneration to the intermediaries: a) The total amount of the remuneration due to the intermediary acting on behalf of the player should not exceed three percent (3%) of the player s basic gross salary for the entire duration of the player s employment contract. b) The total amount of the remuneration due to the intermediary acting on behalf of a club should not exceed three percent (3%) of the transfer fee. 4) In case of transfer of players all payments shall be made between the sending and the receiving clubs with the exception of point 3 b), the transaction cannot be made through a third person (intermediary). The assignment of claims is prohibited. 5) Subject to point (6) any payment for the services of the intermediary shall be made exclusively by the client of the intermediary to the intermediary. 6) After the conclusion of the relevant transaction and subject to the club s agreement the player may give his written consent for the club to pay the intermediary on his behalf. The payment made on behalf of the player shall be in accordance with the terms of payment agreed between the player and the intermediary. 7) Officials, as defined in point 11 of the Definitions section of FIFA Statutes are prohibited from receiving any payment from an intermediary. Any official who contravenes the above shall be subject to disciplinary sanctions. 8) Should the intermediary accept any kind of payment from clubs or players without having a representation contract and/or Intermediary Declaration, he shall be subject to disciplinary sanction. All players and clubs who make payment to such intermediary commit disciplinary offence

9 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 1) Prior to engaging the services of an intermediary, players and/or clubs shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that no conflicts of interest exist or are likely to exist between the players and /or clubs and the intermediaries. 2) The intermediary cannot represent the club and the player at the same time in the same transfer case. 9. SANCTIONS 1) In case of the violation of the provisions of this Regulation disciplinary procedure is initiated against the guilty clubs and players. The disciplinary procedure shall be conducted by the Disciplinary Committee of HFF. a) Possible sanctions against players: aa) written warning ab) cash fine ac) prohibition ad) exclusion from transfer for definite period of time b) Possible sanctions against clubs: ba) cash fine bb) withdrawal of right for transfer for a definite period of time bc) deduction of penalty point. 10. DISPUTES 1) In case of disputes between the intermediary and the player or club belonging to HFF and/or another intermediary (national dispute), HFF is competent to deal with the matter and to make decision pursuant to Article 1 of this Regulation

10 2) Matters submitted to the Disciplinary Commission of HFF shall be judged according to the provisions of the Disciplinary Code of HFF. 11. TRANSITIONAL MEASURES With the coming into force of the HFF s Regulations on Working with Intermediaries the PLAYER-AGENT CODE adopted by decision no. 152/2012.(08.23.)of the HFF s Board shall be abandoned, and all existing licences will lose their validity. The player-agent licences issued by HFF lose their validity as of June 1, HFF withdraws the issued licence cards. In case of representation contracts concluded before the coming into force of the Regulation and concerning the valid representation agreements the ex players agents have to register for the first time and pay the registration fee when the transaction is taking place. 12. CLOSING PROVISIONS All matters not regulated by the provisions of this Regulation shall be decided by the Board of HFF. The registration duty does not apply to attorneys registered in Hungary, but if they are acting as intermediaries they have to submit the representation contract to HFF. This Regulation was adopted by the Board of HFF with decision no. 106/2015 (07.07.). This Regulation comes into force on July 8,

11 Annex 1 Name: Date of birth: Nationality: Full permanent address (incl. phone/fax and ): Intermediary Declaration for Natural Persons I,... HEREBY DECLARE THE FOLLOWING: 1. I pledge to respect and comply with the mandatory provisions of applicable Hungarian and international laws, including in particularly those relating to job placement. In addition, I agree to be bound by the statutes and regulations of FIFA, UEFA and HFF, as well as the Statutes and regulations of FIFA in the context of carrying out my activities as intermediary. 2. I declare that I am currently not holding any position of official, as defined in point 11 of the Definitions section of FIFA Statutes, nor will I hold such a position in the foreseeable future. 3. I declare that I have impeccable reputation and in particular confirm that no criminal sentence has ever been imposed upon me for financial or violent crime. 4. I declare that I have no contractual relationship with FIFA, or UEFA, or HFF or with other confederations, or leagues, or with FIFA that could lead to a potential conflict of interest. 5. I declare that I shall not accept any payment to be made by one club to another in connection with a transfer, such as transfer compensation, training compensation of solidarity mechanism. 6. I declare that I do not conclude a contract with a minor less than 18 years of age. 7. I declare that I shall not take part, either directly or indirectly, or otherwise be associated with betting, gambling, lotteries, and similar events or transactions connected with football matches. I acknowledge that I am forbidden from having stakes, either actively or passively in companies, concerns, organizations, etc. that promoter, broker, arrange, or conduct such events or transactions. 8. I consent that FIFA, UEFA and HFF obtain full details of any payments of whatsoever nature made to me by a club or a player for my services as intermediary. 9. I consent that FIFA, UEFA, and HFF obtain, if necessary, for the purposes of their investigation all contracts, agreements and records in connection with my activities as intermediary. Equally, I consent to the aforementioned bodies also obtaining any other relevant documentation from any other party advising, facilitating or taking any active part in the negotiations for which I am responsible. 10. I consent to HFF storing and processing any data for the purposes of publication and publishing them according to the regulation. 11. I consent to the federation offering access to the registered players and member clubs to other data in connection with the transaction, if they are found to be contrary to the provisions of this Regulation and if they belong to the subject of the relating irregularity. 12. I consent to HFF to publishing details of any disciplinary sanctions taken against me and informing FIFA accordingly. 13. I am fully aware and agree that this declaration shall be made available to the members of the competent bodies of HFF. I make this declaration in good faith, the truth of which is based on the information currently available to me, and agree that HFF shall be entitled to undertake checks as may be necessary to verify the information contained in this declaration. I also acknowledge that having submitted this declaration, in the event that any of the above-mentioned information changes, I must notify HFF immediately. Signature

12 Intermediary Declaration for Legal Persons Name of Company (legal person /entity): Address of company (incl. phone/fax, and website): First name(s) and surname(s) of the individual duly authorized to represent the aforementioned company (legal person /entity): (NB: each intermediary acting on behalf of the company has to fill in a separate Intermediary Declaration) I,... (First name(s) and surname(s) of individual representing the legal person/entity: HEREBY DECLARE THE FOLLOWING: 1. I declare that both the company I represent and myself shall respect the mandatory provisions of applicable Hungarian and international laws, including in particularly those relating to job placement when carrying out activities as intermediary. In addition, I declare that both the company I represent and myself agree to be bound by the statutes and regulations of FIFA, UEFA and HFF, as well as the Statutes and regulations of FIFA in the context of carrying out my activities as intermediary. 2. I declare that I am currently not holding any position of official, as defined in point 11 of the Definitions section of FIFA Statutes, nor will I hold such a position in the foreseeable future. 3. I declare that I have impeccable reputation and in particular confirm that no criminal sentence has ever been imposed upon me for financial or violent crime. 4. I declare that neither the company I represent, nor I myself have no contractual relationship with FIFA, or UEFA, or with other confederations, or leagues, or with HFF that could lead to a potential conflict of interest. 5. I declare that neither the company I represent, nor I myself shall accept any payment to be made by one club to another in connection with a transfer, such as transfer compensation, training compensation of solidarity mechanism. 6. I declare that neither the company I represent, nor I myself shall conclude a contract with a minor less than 18 years of age. 7. I declare that neither the company I represent, nor I myself shall take part, either directly or indirectly, or otherwise be associated with betting, gambling, lotteries, and similar events or transactions connected with football matches. I acknowledge that both the company I represent and I myself are forbidden from having stakes, either actively or passively in companies, concerns, organizations, etc. that promoter, broker, arrange, or conduct such events or transactions. 8. On behalf of the company I represent I consent to HFF obtaining full details of any payments of whatsoever nature made to the company by a club or a player for its services as an intermediary. 9. On behalf of the company I represent I consent to FIFA, UEFA, and HFF obtaining if necessary, for the purposes of their investigation all contracts, agreements and records in connection with the activities as intermediary of the company. Equally, I consent to the aforementioned bodies also obtaining any other relevant documentation from any other party advising, facilitating or taking any active part in the negotiations for which the company I represent is responsible. 10. On behalf of the company I represent I consent to HFF holding and processing any data for the purposes of their publication. 11. I consent to the federation offering access to the registered players and member clubs to other data in connection with the transaction, if they are found to be contrary to the provisions of this Regulation and if they belong to the subject of the relating irregularity. 12. On behalf of the company I represent I consent to HFF to publishing details of any disciplinary sanctions taken against the company I represent and informing FIFA accordingly. 13. I am fully aware and agree that this declaration shall be made available to the members of the competent bodies of HFF. I make this declaration in good faith, the truth of which is based on the information currently available to me, and agree that HFF shall be entitled to undertake checks as may be necessary to verify the information contained in this declaration. I also acknowledge that having submitted this declaration, in the event that any of the above-mentioned information changes, I must notify HFF immediately. Signature

13 Annex 2. Representation Contract Sample The Parties (First name and surname of the intermediary, full address and the name of the company, if any) (hereinafter: Intermediary) and (the Players name, place and date of birth, mother s name, or the exact name and address of the club) (hereinafter: Client) agree to conclude representation contract as specified below: 1) Validity This contract is concluded by the Parties from for definite period of time. 2) Remuneration Only the Client shall pay to the Intermediary for the work performed. a. The player, as Client s intermediary commission amounts to % of the annual basic salary of the player on the basis of the job contract negotiated by the intermediary. i. the lump sum at the commencement of the work contract: ii. annual payment on the expiry of the contractual year: (please mark the correct answer) b. Club, as Client Intermediary commission will be received in lump sum, which amount: (can also be paid in installments) (exact amount and currency to be indicated) 3) Exclusiveness The Parties agree that the intermediary rights are granted to the intermediary exclusively: non-exclusively: (please mark the correct answer). 4) Termination of contract The Parties may terminate this contract any time with mutual consent. Any of the Parties may terminate this contract without justification with 15 days notice period. The contract can also be terminated with immediate effect in case of a contract breach, or if the intermediary violates the content of the Intermediary Declaration composing inseparable part of this contract, or if the intermediary s becoming unworthy was confirmed by HFF or by other national federation. (Termination with immediate effect should be applied in case of contracts for definite period of time). If prior to sending the notice the player/club has already signed the contract or agreement mediated, the proportional payment is due to the player intermediary. 5) The contract comes into effect on the day of signature. 6) Other agreements Any other special agreements in connection with the intermediary activity, payment and other services should be attached to this contract. 7) Mandatory legal norms The Parties undertake to abide by the mandatory legislative regulations in force in Hungary including those relating to job placement as well as the compulsory norms of international law and the state treaties to be applied. 8) The Parties agree to present to the competent committees of FIFA, or HFF for investigation purposes the contracts, agreements and records in connection with their legal relationship concerning intermediary activity. The Intermediary Declaration composes inseparable part of this contract. This contract was signed by the Parties after reading and interpretation as one being fully in agreement with their will

14 Annex