WADA to revise Anti-Doping Code

The Executive Committee and Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will meet respectively on Sunday, November 19, and Monday, November 20, 2006, in Montreal, Canada, to discuss the working draft revision of the World Anti-Doping Code. The product of this first of three consultation phases will be reviewed by its stakeholders (athletes, national Olympic committees, international federations, governments, laboratories and international agencies) by January 2007 for the second consultation phase. The Code review will then culminate at the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport, held by WADA in partnership with the Government of Spain from November 15-17, 2007, in Madrid, Spain.

On Wednesday, November 15, WADA president Richard W. Pound confirmed in a press conference that the International Association of Athletics Federations had proposed doubling the standard penalty for a serious doping violation from a two-year to a four-year suspension. "That is a suggestion that has come forward, and it will be considered by the Review Committee," Pound said. "I'm not quite sure what decision will be made on that, but the consensus will be reflected in the draft code that we send out shortly after our meeting."