Press-Release: WADA Executive Committee takes a number of decisions ahead of fifth World Conference on Doping in Sport

Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) Executive Committee (ExCo) met in Katowice, Poland. The 12-member ExCo is WADA's ultimate policy-making body and is composed equally of representatives from the Sports Movement and Governments of the world.

The half-day meeting, which took place on the eve of WADA’s fifth World Conference on Doping in Sport (5-7 November), focused on a number of decisions and recommendations to the Foundation Board, which will meet on 7 November, concerning a range of topics. The main decisions are outlined in the summary below.

Reflecting on the day’s events, WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie, said: “This week is an important one for WADA and the broader anti-doping community, and I am pleased with the discussions that the ExCo had on a number of key matters. As we head into the start of the World Conference tomorrow, it is clear that everyone is focused on ensuring significant outcomes that will strengthen the global anti-doping program in the interest of athletes worldwide.”

RUSADA Code Compliance

The ExCo heard an update from the Chair of the independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC), Jonathan Taylor, on the compliance procedure currently underway against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). WADA initiated the procedure following identification by the Agency’s Intelligence and Investigations (I&I) Department and by independent forensic experts of inconsistencies in the data retrieved by WADA I&I from the Moscow Laboratory in January 2019.

As per WADA’s update of 28 October, the matter is being dealt with robustly and as quickly as practicable. Once the experts conclude their assessment, a report will be sent to the CRC to consider. Should the CRC make a recommendation regarding RUSADA’s compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code (Code), it will be sent to the ExCo for decision at a meeting to be held as soon as possible, in line with the process laid out in the International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories.

Separately, an initial batch of 47 evidentiary packages, based on data unaffected by the inconsistencies, have been sent to the relevant international federations for them to bring cases forward. Concurrently, WADA I&I continues to build more evidentiary packages