Montreal, December 8, 2023
Following the meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) November 16, 2023, WADA wishes to inform stakeholders of the decision of the Executive Committee to follow the recommendation of the Independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) of WADA to allege non-compliance and impose consequences and conditions of reinstatement against the Nigerian and Venezuelan National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs).
The Nigerian NADO has, to date, still not corrected several irregularities linked to critical requirements of the Code, which were noted during a audit carried out by WADA at the end of 2022, while the Venezuelan NADO has not corrected a number of irregularities linked to critical requirements concerning its anti-doping program which were noted during the exercise of the Code Compliance Questionnaire.
In accordance with article 9.3.1 of International Standard for Code Compliance for Signatories (SICCS), these two NADOs had a period of 21 days from the date of receipt of the formal notification of non-compliance to contest the allegation of non-compliance and/or the consequences and/or the conditions of reintegration proposed by the Agency.
WADA received, prior to the expiry of the 21-day deadline referred to above, formal notifications from the Nigerian NADO and the Venezuelan NADO indicating that they dispute WADA's allegation of non-compliance . WADA will therefore shortly file a Notice of Dispute for each of these two cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and the consequences will not apply until the CAS has rendered its decision.
There are currently five signatories not in compliance with the Code. These are the NADOs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Gabon and Russia, as well as the Olympic Council of Asia and the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation.
For more information on the signatories and the consequences, please see the page “ Global list of non-compliant signatories and applicable consequences » from the WADA website. Although WADA ensures compliance with the implementation of consequences, it should be remembered that other signatories to the Code are required to recognize and implement consequences in their entirety.
