Art. R39: Initiation of the Arbitration by CAS and Answer - CAS Jurisdiction
Unless it is clear from the outset that there is no arbitration agreement referring to CAS, the CAS Court Office shall take all appropriate actions to set the arbitration in motion. It shall communicate the request to the Respondent, call upon the parties to express themselves on the law applicable to the merits of the dispute and set time limits for the Respondent to submit any relevant information about the number and choice of the arbitrator(s) from the CAS list, as well as to file an answer to the request for arbitration.
The answer shall contain:
- a brief statement of defence;
- any defence of lack of jurisdiction;
- any counterclaim.
The Respondent may request that the time limit for the filing of the answer be fixed after the payment by the Claimant of its share of the advance of costs provided by Article R64.2 of this Code.
The Panel shall rule on its own jurisdiction, irrespective of any legal action already pending before a State court or another arbitral tribunal relating to the same object between the same parties, unless substantive grounds require a suspension of the proceedings.
When an objection to CAS jurisdiction is raised, the CAS Court Office or the Panel, if
already constituted, shall invite the parties to file written submissions on jurisdiction.
The Panel may rule on its jurisdiction either in a preliminary decision or in an award on
the merits.
Where a party files a request for arbitration related to an arbitration agreement and facts similar to those which are the subject of a pending ordinary procedure before CAS, the President of the Panel, or if she/he has not yet been appointed, the President of the Division, may, after consulting the parties, decide to consolidate the two procedures.