In September 2021, the European Parliament and Council adopts a (fictitious) new equality directive. In response to growing public criticism of sporting competitions in which prize funds for women's competitions are smaller than those for men, the directive includes an article providing for equal prize money in sports competitions.

Article 2 of the directive defines a prize as:

any cash, property, or benefit in kind received by participants in a sporting competition as a consequence of winning the competition, or any element thereof under the rules of the competition.

Sweden implements regulations requiring that the 'penningpris eller arvode' (monetary prize or emolument) for comparable men's and women's sporting competitions must be equal.

European Cycling Union (UEC) runs championships across Europe in ten separate disciplines. Major international sporting events are often organised under a licensing arrangement between the relevant governing body and the event organiser. In September 2022, Stockholm hosted the European Road Race Championships, organised by theKommunfullmktige(Municipal Council) under license from the UEC. The event organisers are, therefore, theKommunfullmktige, although the UEC retains oversight. Although not provided for by statute, in order to ensure the safety of the event, senior officials from the UEC regularly direct police, including instructions to close roads and secure certain areas from the public.

The Women's Elite Road Race is won by legendary Dutch cyclist Ariane Bos, who receives a prize of 80,000 Swedish Krona - the same prize money as was received by the winner of the Men's Elite Road Race, British cyclist Mark Devonshire. Two weeks later, however, Ms Bos discovers from an Instagram post that in addition to prize money, Devonshire also received a ten-day break at the holiday home of Swedish billionaire Kel Vaarnsen in Saint Barthlemy in the Caribbean. Upon further investigation, Bos discovers that Vaarnsen agreed to gift the break to the winner of the men's road race in a sponsorship meeting with the Mayor of Stockholm and the Secretary General of the UEC.

This is an assessable case study for the purposes of the Portfolio assessment. You may, therefore, include a solution to this problem as one of your three portfolio items.

You may work on answering this problem in your week 4 workshop session. As this is an individual assignment, however, you may not work with anyone else outside of the workshop session.

Page 1 of 2

Ms Bos has written to the Mayor, the Secretary General, and the Minister for Culture, indicating that she intends to initiate legal action against theKommunfullmktige, the UEC, and the Swedish Government, for breaching the EU equality directive.

The Secretary General, Alasdair MacLauchlan, comes to you for advice as to whether Ms Bos can rely upon the directive against:

• The UEC;
• The Municipal Commissioner ;
• The Swedish Government.

Advise Mr MacLauchlan.