The new partnership, referred to as the ICSS-COP Standard CoC, will for the first time set out recognised standards on sport betting integrity to safeguard federations, clubs and athletes throughout Portugal.

The agreement follows on from an initial link-up announced between both parties back in April aiming to promote and safeguard the Olympic values and to consider greater focus on youth-exchange programmes to empower and educate youth through sport.

The ICSS-COP Standard CoC has been developed using the Sorbonne-ICSS Guiding Principles for Protecting the Integrity of Sports Competitions published this year.

The  University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the ICSS conducted a two-year research programme into sport corruption which claimed to have found 80 per cent of global sport betting is illegally transacted, making it  invisible to regulators and investigators.

As part of the new ICSS-COP Standard CoC, member federations will be able to sanction any individual that bets on or influences the result, progress or any other aspect of a match either directly or through a third-party.

The code will also allow COP member federations to refer any allegation or suspicion of a violation to a designated officer to investigate and initiate appropriate disciplinary procedures.

"At a time where the threats to the integrity of the Olympic sport have had a sharp impact on many organisations in sport, the Olympic Committee of Portugal want to pave the way and implement several measures to effectively tackle this scourge to the credibility of sport," said COP President José Manuel Constantino.

"Protecting sport is a top priority on our agenda and, backed by the expertise and valuable collaboration of the ICSS, the COP executive commission recently approved this Code of Conduct on Sport Betting Integrity as a first step of an action plan aimed to prepare Portuguese sport with the proper tools to face the challenge."

ICSS President Mohammed Hanzab (left) and COP President José Manuel Constantino sign the landmark agreement on sporting integrity ©ICSS




The code is also set to be introduced throughout members of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).

The CPLP is an intergovernmental organisation of nations where Portuguese is an official language and is made up of nine member states and six associate observers.

The nine member states include Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

Georgia, Japan, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal and Turkey are the associate observers.

The inter-regional cooperation programme will aim to support and be implemented alongside existing regulation and legislation on sport betting.

The programme will see the COP and ICSS work together to promote and enhance good governance, integrity, financial transparency, security and child protection in sport with the aim of enhancing future co-operation with National Olympic Committees (NOCs) across the CPLP and European Union (EU) regions.

The COP is set to organise a Summit of NOCs from CPLP countries in Portugal in early 2015 which will address issues related to safeguarding the integrity and credibility of sporting competitions, as well as introducing an ongoing education and awareness programme for young athletes covering topics related to sport betting integrity and the new ICSS-COP Standard CoC.

ICSS President Mohammed Hanzab said: "Building on the agreement signed by the Portuguese Olympic Committee and the ICSS earlier this year, the introduction of this pioneering new code of conduct on sport betting integrity, as well as the wide-ranging Inter-Regional Cooperation Programme, represents a significant moment for sport, not just in Portugal but throughout CPLP region.

"As new cases of integrity and match-fixing continue to emerge throughout the world on a weekly basis, it is important that Governments, federations and clubs around the world recognise the very real threat that organised crime and betting fraud present to sport.

"I hope that the work the COP and ICSS will deliver as part of this partnership will encourage other organisations in sport to introduce similar, robust measures to combat match-fixing and safeguard the future of sport."

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