The Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy, Bingen Zupiria, and the Director of Physical Activity and Sport, Jon Redondo, have presented the draft Law on Physical Activity and Sport of the Basque Country. This will enable the promotion and regulation of physical activity and sport in the CAPV and will renew Law 14/1998, of 11 June, on Sport, which has been in force for more than two decades.

Lines to strengthen the law

The promotion of physical activity and sport, the objective of achieving a more inclusive sport, the incorporation of models of good governance, the eradication of inequalities, the promotion of women’s sport, the existence of joint bodies in sports bodies, the clarification of the role of public administrations in the fight against obesity, sedentarism and the generation of healthy lifestyles and federalisation, as well as a new dimension are particularly important in this new law. The law transversally gathers the perspective of gender and sexual and gender diversity as guiding principles of all public policies.

It prioritizes the practice of physical activity on the part of citizens to achieve a more active society. To this end, the Basque Agency for Physical Activity, attached to the department responsible for sport of the Public Administration, will be set up. Its objectives will include the planning and coordination of policies to promote physical activity. In addition, among its challenges is to promote the implementation of the single sport card for access to public sports services in the Basque Country.

The law stresses the importance of the participation of different sectors in the promotion of physical activity and sport, including health and education, as "more than one sector is responsible for achieving a more active Basque society". The new Law incorporates the municipality as the main axis of the promotion of physical activity and sport, being the administration closest to the citizens and owner of most of the sports teams, spaces and services.

In the field of physical activity and sport at school age, the law also includes, for the first time, the age range 0-6 years.

Towards equal opportunities

"The new law seeks the full inclusion of people with disabilities or functional diversity and seeks to remove barriers to ensuring respect for the fundamental rights of this group," the Basque Government said.

The future law will also promote measures to prevent violence, xenophobia and intolerance, as well as penalties such as racism, xenophobia, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or for religious reasons which may result in the final suspension of the licence, fines of between 6,000 and 60,000 euros, the closure of sporting establishments or the disqualification.