June 07, 2012 – According to WADA’s Revised Code, now in its second phase, athletes guilty of a serious doping offence will likely be banned from the next Olympic Games even if their original suspension finishes prior to the Games. This move in effect supports the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) attempt to ban athletes at London 2012 that was recently overturned by the Court of Arbitration – see Article 10.15 below.
“Where an athlete or other person has been sanctioned for an anti-doping rule violation other than under Articles 10.3.3 (Filing Failures and Missed Tests), 10.3.4 (Prohibited Association), 10.4 (Specified Substances), or 10.5.2 (No Significant Fault or Negligence), and Article 10.5.3 (Substantial Assistance) is not applicable, then, as an additional sanction, the athlete or other person shall be ineligible to participate in the next Summer Olympic Games and the next Winter Olympic Games taking place after the end of the period of ineligibility otherwise imposed.”
Revised Code Published as Second Consultation Phase Starts
WADA has launched the second consultation phase of the Code Review Process and published the first draft of the revised World Anti-Doping Code.
The second consultation phase started on June 1 and offers WADA signatories, stakeholders and athletes worldwide a second opportunity to submit recommendations to strengthen the Code.
Pursuant to the Review Process, WADA has published a clean version and a redline version of the revised draft on its website, as well as all submissions that had publication approval from their authors.
In conjunction with the second Code phase, WADA has also launched the first of two consultation phases for its International Standards, which are designed to bring harmonization to technical areas of anti-doping.
Following a successful first consultation phase for the Code that resulted in 91 official submissions and 1366 individual comments, WADA has encouraged its stakeholders to continue making recommendations.
“The World Anti-Doping Code represents the needs and wishes of the world’s anti-doping community, and the Review Process is designed to allow all those with a vested interest to play an active part,” said WADA President John Fahey.
“We rely on the experience and assistance of our stakeholders to make the Code as robust and comprehensive as possible, and we again ask for feedback that will help to this effect.”
To help facilitate the simple submission of recommendations, WADA has created the online tool WADAConnect.
Stakeholders are asked to use WADAConnect as it allows submissions to be made with direct reference to the Code Article of interest.
The first Code consultation phase ran from November 28, 2011 to March 15, 2012, after which submissions were reviewed by the WADA Executive Committee – which works as a steering group – before being presented to the WADA Foundation Board on May 18 for approval.
After a third consultation phase between December 1, 2012 and March 1, 2013, a final draft will be approved by the WADA Foundation Board at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg in November 2013.
The new Code will come into force as of January 1, 2015. For more information, please visit the Code Review Process Q&A.