MIES – FIBA’s Legal Commission and Governance Commission held a joint meeting at the House of Basketball on Friday 22 May.
FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Patrick Baumann presided over matters.
Abdullah Al Ansari, the Chairman of the Legal Commission, said: “The FIBA Legal Commission looks after all legal matters, including rules, by-laws and regulations. We draft recommendations which are submitted to the FIBA Central Board and Executive Committee who go through them.
“Everything we do is with the best interest of basketball worldwide in mind. Change can take time to happen because we do not change just for the sake of changing, but rather with a view to improve things and make them the best they can be.
“It is a huge benefit for the Legal Commission and Governance Commission to meet together, [in order to] go through all the documents to be changed and all the rules and regulations. It makes for a better exchange of more ideas with a lot of people coming from different parts of the world. This is why it is good to have this type of meeting of the two commissions together at least once a year.”
George Vassilakopoulos, the Chairman of the Governance Commission, said: “The Governance Commission is there to change the structure of FIBA on the world and continental levels. The main goal and concept is to create only ONE FIBA. We started to work on this in 2011 and we’ve already taken many very serious steps but we need to take some more.
“Having a meeting of the two commissions is a very good opportunity to take further steps toward the ultimate goal of having ONE FIBA all around the world.”
The duties of the Legal Commission include:
– To provide independent and impartial advice on all legal matters concerning the practice of basketball worldwide.
– To study the legal implications of all proposed amendments to the General Statutes and Internal Regulations of FIBA.
– To draft the official text of the Internal Regulations of FIBA, taking into account any input of the other bodies concerned, and to finalise this text before submitting it to the Central Board for approval.
– To advise the Secretary General, the Central Board and the Executive Committee on matters pertaining to the interpretation of the current General Statutes, Internal Regulations and all other matters, in particular eligibility.
FIBA’s Legal Commission for 2014-2019 consists of:
Chairman:
Al Ansari, Abdullah – UAE
Deputy-Chairman:
Rangelova, Eleonora – Bulgaria
Members:
Buchanan, Richard – USA
Collomb, Pierre – France
Coomans, Cyriel – Belgium
Derwin, Scott – Australia
Francisco, Edgar – Philippines
Gonzalo Cueto, Tomas – Spain
Jeribi, Soufiene – Tunisia
Patterson, Chris – New Zealand
Richards, Usie – US Virgin Islands
The duties of the Governance Commission include:
– To make recommendations on possible improvements to FIBA’s governance and organisation.
– To review and monitor the relationship between FIBA, the Regional Offices and its Zones.
– To monitor the relationship between FIBA and its national member federations and provide advice to the Secretary General for appropriate action when requested and required.
– To monitor the evolution of the Statutes and Internal Regulations of the national member federations and to draw up proposals for their improvement and alignment with FIBA’s General Statutes and Internal Regulations.
– To review applications for membership.
The Legal Commission held a meeting all of its own on Saturday 23 May.
FIBA’s Governance Commission for 2014-2019 consists of:
Chairman:
Vassilakopoulos, George – Greece
Deputy-Chairman:
Richards, Usie – US Virgin Islands
Members:
Al Ansari, Abdullah – UAE
Bah Diallo, Maimouna – Guinea
Ching, Mabel – Hong Kong, China
Donovan, Terry – England
Haynes, Patrick – Guyana
Ramaroson, Jean-Michel – Madagascar
Saez Regalado, Jose Luis – Spain
Sergi, Giancarlo – Switzerland
Shipley, Burton – New Zealand
FIBA
