The decision, made at the Council's periodical meeting in the Turkish city of Belek, is due to be ratified at the next ETU General Assembly.

As well as handing out a suspension, the Council has also ordered new and democratic elections after the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee reported that the UNBTU does not currently represent the majority of the taekwondo practitioners in Belgium.

The ETU will appoint a special envoy who will be mandated to both organise and oversee the fair and transparent election process in order to make sure all athletes and clubs in Belgium are heard.

Last month, the Swedish Taekwondo Federation was suspended after the ETU became aware that the statutes of the Federation were not in compliance with the statutes of the WTF and ETU.

The appeal of the Swedish Federation will be assessed by the appointed Investigations Committee, which will report back to the Appeal Committee.

A final decision on the matter is expected to be made in February of next year, with Swedish athletes only being able to compete under the flag of the ETU until then. 

In the appeal period, any decision taken by the Federation's General Assembly will not be accepted, unless the Federation has fully complied with WTF and ETU statutes and regulations.

The Swedish Taekwondo Federation was suspended by the ETU last month ©Getty Images









In other matters, the ETU confirmed it will introduce an equivalent of the WTF Global Licence, which will be mandatory for all athletes competing at national events in Member National Association's.

The WTF Global Licence is a mandatory taekwondo passport to participate in all WTF tournaments and continental union recognised tournaments for all athletes and officials.

The ETU will now continue its dialogue with WTF in order to finalise the process.

A progress report on the Baku 2015 European Games was also presented to the Council.

"The OC [Operation Committee] in Baku is working hard to be ready in June 2015 and with less than 200 days to go, time is very precious," said the ETU in a statement.

Furthermore, amendments to ETU statutes, including the introduction of the "disciplinary resolution and disciplinary action" bylaw, and Serbia's application to host the 2015 European Poomsae Championships in Belgrade were both approved. 

The Championships is due to take place from June 26 to 28. 

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