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Q&A's Regarding the World Anti-Doping Code

2004-03-27 14:20 WADA

What is the World Anti-Doping Code?

The Code is the first document to harmonize regulations regarding anti-doping in sport across all sports and all countries of the world. The Code provides a framework for anti-doping policies, rules and regulations for sport organizations and public authorities.

As part of an extensive and unprecedented consultation process, WADA solicited comments from its stakeholders at every step throughout the Code's development and has incorporated those suggestions into each new version of the document. The final Code was unanimously approved by more than 1000 delegates of sports organizations and governments at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Copenhagen, Denmark, in March 2003. It entered in force on January 1, 2004.

What new rules or procedures has the Code put in place?

The Code clarifies the responsibilities of stakeholders and brings harmonization where rules or policies varied between different sports and countries. For example, the organizations that sign the Code have to accept the 2004 WADA list of Prohibited substances and methods that entered in force on January 1, 2004. The signatories, if they don't have one already, must also put in place a process that allows athletes with documented medical conditions to request a therapeutic use exemption.

The Code includes articles that are mandatory relating, for examples, to sanctions, hearings and public report of adverse analytical findings. Some other articles such as those dealing with consequences to teams leave some latitude to the signatories.

The Code works in conjunction with the List of Prohibited Substances and three other International Standards aimed at bringing harmonization among anti-doping organizations: doping control, laboratories, and therapeutic use exemptions. These Standards have also been the subject of lengthy consultation among WADA's stakeholders and are mandatory for all signatories of the Code.

In addition, WADA has developed and will develop Models of best practice. These model rules provide state-of-the-art solutions to stakeholders in different areas of anti-doping but are not mandatory. Two sets of Model rules have already been created, one for international federations and the other for result management.


How does the Code implementation process work?

Sports organizations have until the Summer Olympic Games in Athens in August 2004, to accept and implement the Code. This means that they must put their own rules and policies in compliance with the mandatory articles and other principles of the Code. The updated list of organizations that have formally accepted the Code is available on WADA's website at www.wada-ama.org.

Many governments cannot be legally bound by a non-governmental document such as the Code. As a result, they have signed the Copenhagen Declaration, which signals their intention to adopt the Code. An international convention against doping in sport under the aegis of UNESCO, the United Nations organization responsible for education, science and culture, is being prepared and governments will formally accept the Code through this document.

While the Copenhagen Declaration is a political document through which governments signal their intention to formally recognize and implement the Code (the updated list of governments that have signed the Declaration can be consulted at www.wada-ama.org), the UNESCO Convention will be a legally binding document. The goal set by governments is to present the final text of the Convention at the UNESCO General Conference in September 2005, which will allow world governments time to ratify the Convention and formally adopt the Code prior to the Winter Olympic Games in Turin in 2006.


What is the situation of professional leagues and sports organizations outside the Olympic Movement in relation to the Code?

Members of these leagues must comply with the Code when they take part in events or tournaments under the jurisdiction of organizations that have implemented it (for ex. NBA or NHL players playing at the Olympic Games or at World Championships).

WADA has contacted some of these leagues and, with the support of governments and other sports organizations, hopes that all of them will accept and implement the Code in order to have one single standard for all athletes in all sports and in all countries.


What flexibility does the Code provide in terms of sanctions?

The norm stated in the Code is a two-year ineligibility sanction for a first anti-doping violation and a lifetime ineligibility for a second offense. However, the Code provides flexibility for sanctions ranging from a warning to a life ban depending on various matters including: the type of the anti-doping violation, the circumstances of the individual case (level or absence of fault or negligence), the substance (or quantity found for certain substances) in case of the detection of a prohibited substance, and repetition of an anti-doping violation.

For example, the Code foresees three types of violations:
- Violations relating to the presence of a prohibited substance and/or its use; refusing or failing to submit to sample collection; tampering with doping control, for which sanctions range from a warning to life ban depending on the substance, the circumstances of the case, the repetition of the anti-doping violation.
- Violations relating to the failure to provide whereabouts information and missed tests by athletes responsible to submit to appropriate out-of-competition testing, for which sanctions range from a minimum of 3 months up to a maximum of 2 years.
- Violations relating to administration and trafficking of prohibited substances, for which sanctions will range from a minimum of 4 years to a lifetime ban.

The sanction may also be reduced if the athlete can establish that he or she did not know or suspect, and could not have reasonably known or suspected even with the exercise of utmost caution, that he or she had used or been administered the prohibited substance or method. When a prohibited substance or its markers or metabolites is detected in an athlete's specimen, which is an anti-doping violation, the athlete must also prove to the tribunal how the prohibited substance entered his or her system to have the sanction reduced.

Furthermore, the Code also addresses violations involving certain specified substances included in the 2004 Prohibited List (for ex. ephedrine, cannabinoids, etc). These are substances which are particularly susceptible to unintentional anti-doping rules violations because of their general availability in medicinal products or which are less likely to be successfully abused as doping agents. Where an athlete can establish, again according to the relevant standard of proof, that the use of such a specified substance was not intended to enhance sport performance, the period of ineligibility will be reduced within the boundaries defined in the Code.


Will there be changes in the Code in the next few years?

The Code is a living document and changes may occur in the future. Article 123.6 of the Code states that "WADA shall initiate proposed amendments to the Code and shall ensure a consultative process to both receive and respond to recommendations and to facilitate review and feedback from athletes, signatories and governments on recommended amendments. Amendments to the Code shall, after appropriate consultation, be approved by a two-thirds majority of the WADA Foundation Board including a majority of both the public sector and Olympic Movement members casting vote. Amendments shall, unless provided otherwise, go into effect three months after such approval. Signatories shall implement any applicable amendment to the Code within one year of approval by the WADA Foundation Board".

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