Question Period Note: World Anti-Doping Agency Russian investigation

The World Anti-Doping Agency Executive Committee has asserted that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) be declared non-compliant to the World Anti-Doping Code and subject to a series of consequences for the next four years. Russia now has 21 days to accept this decision or appeal it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport

• Canada has a strong record of supporting our athletes and has been a leader in the anti-doping movement.
• We understand that the World Anti-Doping Agency is recommending that Russia be handed a four-year sanction from participating in or hosting major sport events.
• Canada fully backs this position and is firmly committed to fair and safe competition and protecting the integrity of sport.
• We are pleased that the World Anti-Doping Agency has sent a clear message: Cheating is not tolerated.

• On September 20, 2018, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee reinstated the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) based on two strict conditions:
o that the Russian Government must provide access to a WADA Expert Team to the stored samples and electronic data in the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory by December 31, 2018, which were sealed off at the time due to a Federal investigation, and;
o independent analysis of these samples and electronic data be completed by June 2019.
• If either of these conditions were not fulfilled it was expected that WADA’s independent Compliance Review Committee’s (CRC’s) would recommend to the WADA Executive Committee that RUSADA be declared non-compliant to the WADA Code and subject to the International Standard for Code Compliance.
• On November 27-28, 2018, representatives of the WADA held preliminary meetings with the Russian authorities in Moscow regarding laboratory access, for a full technical mission by mid-December 2018 in fulfillment of the first condition for reinstatement.
• On December 17, 2018, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was informed by its expert team that it was unable to complete its mission and extract the crucial Moscow Laboratory data as the Russian authorities requested that the team’s extraction equipment be certified under Russian law, a condition not initially agreed upon by WADA.
• As a result, Russian authorities missed the December 31, 2018, deadline to provide WADA with data from the Moscow laboratory.
• However, WADA reported on January 7, 2019, that the issue related to the certification of the WADA Expert Team extraction equipment was resolved and that a team of Experts was sent to Moscow on January 9, 2019 to access and extract the data. This task was completed on January 17, 2019.
• The WADA’s independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) met on January 14 15, 2019 and waited until the data extraction process was completed to provide a recommendation to the WADA Executive Committee for its meeting on January 22, 2018.
• On January 22, 2019 the WADA Executive Committee was informed by the CRC on the work related to the data extraction at the Moscow Laboratory. The data extraction was a necessary measure to assist in the next phase of the process, during which WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department, in cooperation with independent data forensic experts, confirm the authenticity of the data.
• WADA has so far passed suspicious files on 47 cases to the relevant International Sports Federations (IFs) to bring cases forward. The Agency will keep its independent right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport any IF decision not to take a case forward.
• In that regard, RUSADA and the Russian authorities provided samples that were still stored at the Moscow Laboratory for re-analysis by a WADA-accredited laboratory by 30 June 2019.
• Based on further investigation by the WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department, in cooperation with independent data forensic expert, it was determined that there were inconsistencies in the Moscow Laboratory data provided to WADA in January, 2019. This led WADA to open a formal compliance procedure against RUSADA on 17 September 2019.
• In response, Russian authorities provided 80 pages of explanations and responded to 31 technical questions.
• The WADA Compliance Review Committee (CRC) met with experts on November 17, 2019 submitted their recommendations to the WADA Executive Committee on November 21, 2019.
• On December 9, 2019 the WADA Executive Committee unanimously endorsed the Compliance Review Committee recommendations that RUSADA be declared non-compliant with the WADA Code and subject to a four-year ban including:
o Russian governmental and Olympic movement representatives unable to participate in or attend Major Events (Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships);
o Russia barred from hosting Major Events;
o Russian athletes implicated by the Russian investigation not permitted to participate in Major Events; and,
o Russia subject to a fine of $100,000 US.
• Russia now has 21 days to accept the assertion but will likely appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which may render a final decision on the matter in the first quarter of 2020.

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