Parliament Passes Bill To Prevent Doping Activities In Sports

It will also facilitate operation of the National Anti-Doping Agency, the National Dope Testing Laboratory and other allied bodies.

Currently, anti-doping activities are implemented by the National Anti-Doping Agency, which was established as a society. This agency will now become a statutory body.

The Bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on July 27. It was passed by Raya Sabha today by voice vote.

The Bill seeks to—

(i) establish a National Board for Anti-Doping in Sport and provides for its composition, powers and functions;

(ii) establish the National Anti-Doping Agency to be headed by a Director General, and provides for the powers and functions of the said Agency, including the powers of investigation, levying sanctions for Anti-Doping Rule Violations, the disciplinary procedures to be adopted and the powers of inspection, sample collection and sharing and free flow of information;

(iii) establish National Dope Testing Laboratory and other dope testing laboratories;

(iv) strengthen the framework and mechanisms for carrying out the doping control programme in sports to ensure dope-free sport in India.

It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December last year and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which tabled its comments in March 2022.

The Bill prohibits athletes, their support personnel and other persons from indulging in doping in sport.

Section 4 stipulates activities that constitute Anti-Doping Rule Violation. This includes:

-presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete's sample;

-use or attempted use of any prohibited substance or a prohibited method;

-refusing or failing without compelling justification, to submit sample collection;

- filing failure, that is to say, the athlete has failed to submit his whereabouts information before the required deadline;

- missed test, that is to say, though the athlete has filed his whereabouts information, he is not available at the location for testing;

-trafficking or attempted trafficking in any prohibited substance or prohibited method, etc.

Violation of anti-doping rules may result in disqualification of results, ineligibility to participate in any competition for a prescribed period, provisional suspension from participating in any competition, financial sanctions.

However, "therapeutic use" is exempted under the Act, meaning thereby that if any prohibited substance or method is required by any athlete for medical reasons, an application may be mde to the Agency in that regard.

The Act further contemplates constitution of a National Board for Anti-Doping in Sports to oversee the activities of the Agency towards ensuring compliance with the World standards, matters of integrity and fair play, and strategic planning and implementation of anti-doping policies.

The Board will constitute a National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel for determining consequences of anti-doping rule violations. The Act also provides for an Appeal Panel to hear appeals against decisions of the Disciplinary Panel.

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