Secretariat
1. The FIFA general secretariat provides the FIFA judicial bodies with a secretariat and the necessary support, infrastructure and staff at FIFA headquarters. The FIFA judicial bodies may be assisted by legal counsel or experts.
2. The secretariat takes charge of the administrative work and writes the decisions of the meetings.
3. The secretariat manages the case files. The decisions passed and the relevant files shall be kept for at least five years.
4. The secretariat keeps records of cautions, sendings-off and match suspensions, which are stored in FIFA’s central data storage system. The secretariat of the Disciplinary Committee confirms them in writing to the association or club Organisation and Competence III. 33 concerned or, in the case of final competitions, to the head of the delegation concerned (or the person(s) indicated by the latter for each competition). T o ensure that the relevant records are complete, the confederations shall inform FIFA of all sanctions that have been issued during their own competitions that are likely to be carried over to a FIFA competition or future competitions organised by the confederations.
5. The secretariat takes charge of the necessary investigation ex officio.
6. The general principles that will apply to investigations are the following:
a) FIFA may investigate possible offences falling within the scope of this Code.
b) In principle, when an investigation is initiated, the parties concerned are informed. This does not apply where such notification is not deemed appropriate. Such investigations are conducted by means of written inquiries, engaging with third parties, such as forensic companies and, where necessary, the questioning of individuals. Other investigative procedures may also be employed, including but not limited to on-site inspections, document requests and the procurement of expert opinions. An investigation may be reopened if new evidence or facts emerge which imply that an offence falling within the scope of this Code may have been committed.