Contributions to doping cases
One of the Doping Authority's structural activities involves putting forward arguments in doping proceedings. Stating arguments in this way is a right that is anchored in the doping regulations of all elite sports associations. The arguments drafted by the Doping Authority set out the judgements of the Doping Authority with respect to the relevant provisions of the Doping Regulations, the International Standards, the case in question, and the defence statements. Submitting arguments in this way gives the Doping Authority the opportunity to describe the legal framework for disciplinary committees, to discuss crucial provisions in the Doping Regulations and/or International Standards, and to respond to the defence arguments of the athlete in question (on the basis of case law from the CAS and elsewhere).
The Doping Authority submitted written arguments in all doping cases resulting in disciplinary procedures in the Netherlands in 2013, and attended the relevant hearings. Appeals were submitted in some cases. In addition, the Doping Authority fulfilled an advisory role in a range of national and international proceedings to which the Doping Authority was not itself a party.
WADA Supervision
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) monitors worldwide implementation, application and compliance relative to the World Anti-Doping Code. One of the instruments that WADA uses for that purpose is the monitoring of the processing of positive control results. WADA receives the results from the doping controls conducted throughout the world by all WADA-accredited laboratories. These reports are anonymous since the laboratories do not have the names of the controlled athletes.
The results reported by the laboratories allow WADA to obtain information from International Federations, National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) and organisers of competitions and events about what has been done with these control results. In other words, whether they have led to disciplinary procedures, the removal of athletes' names from competition results etc.
In the case of the Netherlands, this means that WADA asks the Doping Authority whether, and if so which, sanctions have been imposed pursuant to positive doping controls. WADA then decides whether more information is required to determine whether the Code has been applied and observed correctly in the case in question. In cases where there were doubts in this respect, there were very intensive consultations on some occasions.
WADA Appeal with CAS
This approach to monitoring by WADA resulted, in 2013, in the lodging of an appeal by WADA with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne (Switzerland). The CAS is the resort of final appeal for doping cases in sport. After a Dutch doping case had resulted in an appeal decision with which WADA disagreed, WADA lodged an appeal with the CAS against that decision.
In formal terms, the sports association is the opposing party here. Nevertheless, in practice, it is of course the athlete who is faced with the consequences of the appeal. Alongside the athlete and the association, the Doping Authority was also a party to the proceedings given its responsibility for the drafting and application of the doping regulations in the Netherlands. In the end, the CAS found partly in favour of the WADA appeal. It was important to the Doping Authority that the CAS recognised the interpretation of the Doping Regulations adopted by the Doping Authority.
Preparations for Doping Act
In 2010, the then State Secretary of Health, Welfare and Sport announced the government's intention to adopt additional legislation in the form of a Doping Act. It is expected that the relevant bill will be submitted to the House in 2014 and, in preparation, there have been intensive consultations with civil servants from the Ministries of Health, Welfare and Sport, and Security and Justice.