5.1    Purpose of Testing

5.1    Purpose of Testing

5.1.1     Testing may be undertaken for any anti-doping purpose. It shall be conducted in conformity with the provisions of the International Standard for Testing.

5.1.2    Testing shall be undertaken to obtain analytical evidence as to whether the Athlete has violated Article 2.1 (Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample) or Article 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method), and for the purposes described in Article 6.2 of the Code.

5.2    Authority to Test

5.2    Authority to Test

5.2.1     Subject to the limitations for Event Testing set out in Article 5.3, the Commission shall have In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing authority over all Athletes specified in Article 1 of the Rules.

5.2.2     The Commission may require any Athlete over whom it has Testing authority who has not retired (including any Athlete serving a period of Ineligibility) to provide a Sample at any time and at any place.³¹ 

5.2.3     WADA shall have In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing authority as set out in Article 20.8.11 of the Code.

5.2.4     If an International Federation or Major Event Organisation delegates or contracts any part of Testing to the Commission, the Commission may collect additional Samples or direct the laboratory to perform additional types of analysis at the Commission‘s expense. If additional Samples are collected or additional types of analysis are performed, the International Federation or Major Event Organisation shall be notified.

5.2.5    Except where expressly allowed by the Code or an International Standard, the Commission shall not take any action that unduly impedes or interferes with the ability of any other Anti-Doping Organisation to conduct Testing, whether performed directly or through delegation, that is authorized by Article 5 of the Code or any other Code Article or the International Standard for Testing.

5.3    Event Testing

5.3    Event Testing

5.3.1     Except as otherwise provided below, only a single organisation shall have authority to conduct Testing at Event Venues during an Event Period. At International Events held in New Zealand, the international organisation which is the ruling body for the Event shall have authority to conduct Testing. At National Events held in New Zealand, the Commission shall have authority to conduct Testing. At the request of the ruling body for an Event, any Testing conducted during the Event Period outside of the Event Venues shall be coordinated with the ruling body of the Event.

5.3.2     If an Anti-Doping Organisation, which would otherwise have Testing authority but is not responsible for initiating and directing Testing at an Event, desires to conduct Testing of Athletes at the Event Venues during the Event Period, the Anti-Doping Organisation shall first confer with the ruling body of the Event to obtain permission to conduct and coordinate such Testing. If the Anti-Doping Organisation is not satisfied with the response from the ruling body of the Event, the Anti-Doping Organisation may, in accordance with procedures described in the International Standard for Testing, ask WADA for permission to conduct Testing and to determine how to coordinate such Testing. WADA shall not grant approval for such Testing before consulting with and informing the ruling body for the Event. WADA’s decision shall be final and not subject to appeal. Unless otherwise provided in the authorization to conduct Testing, such tests shall be considered Out-of-Competition tests. Results Management for any such test shall be under the authority of the Anti-Doping Organisation initiating the test unless provided otherwise in the rules of the ruling body of the Event. ³²

5.4    Testing Requirements

5.4    Testing Requirements

5.4.1    The Commission shall conduct test distribution planning and Testing as required by the International Standard for Testing and use ADAMS to coordinate Testing in order to maximize the effectiveness of the combined Testing effort and to avoid unnecessary repetitive Testing.

5.5    Athlete Whereabouts Information

5.5    Athlete Whereabouts Information

5.5.1     The Commission has established a Registered Testing Pool of those Athletes who are required to provide whereabouts information in the manner specified in the International Standard for Testing. The Commission shall coordinate with International Federations to identify such Athletes and to collect their whereabouts information. 

5.5.2     Athletes included in a Registered Testing Pool shall be subject to Consequences for Article 2.4 violations as provided in Article 10.3.2. 

5.5.3     The Commission shall make available through ADAMS a list which identifies those Athletes included in its Registered Testing Pool by name. The Commission shall regularly review and update as necessary its criteria for including Athletes in its Registered Testing Pool, and shall periodically review the list of Athletes in its Registered Testing Pool in accordance with the International Standard for Testing to ensure that each listed Athlete continues to meet the relevant criteria. Athletes shall be notified before they are included in the Registered Testing Pool and when they are removed from that pool. The notification shall contain the information set out in the International Standard for Testing.

5.5.4     Where an Athlete is included in a Registered Testing Pool by their International Federation and in a Registered Testing Pool by The Commission, the Commission  and the International Federation shall agree between themselves which of them shall be the whereabouts custodian; in no case shall an Athlete be required to make whereabouts filings to more than one of them.

5.5.5     Each Athlete in the Registered Testing Pool shall comply with the whereabouts requirements as set out in the International Standard for Testing, including, without limitation: (a) advising the Commission  of their whereabouts on a quarterly basis; (b) updating that information as necessary so that it remains accurate and complete at all times; and (c) making themselves available for Testing at such whereabouts.

5.5.6    For purposes of Article 2.4, an Athlete’s failure to comply with the requirements of the International Standard for Testing shall be deemed a filing failure or a missed test, as defined in Annex B of the International Standard for Results Management, where the conditions set forth in Annex B are met.

5.5.7    An Athlete in the Commission’s  Registered Testing Pool shall continue to be subject to the obligation to comply with the whereabouts requirements set out in the International Standard for Testing unless and until (a) the Athlete gives written notice to  the Commission that they have retired, in which case the Commission  shall confirm in writing the Athlete’s retirement and removal from the Registered Testing Pool; or (b) the Commission  has informed the Athlete that they are no longer included in the Registered Testing Pool.

5.5.8    Whereabouts information provided by an Athlete while in the Registered Testing Pool will be available and accessible through ADAMS to WADA and to other Anti-Doping Organisations having authority to test that Athlete as provided in Article 5.2. Whereabouts information shall be maintained in strict confidence at all times; it shall be used exclusively for purposes of planning, coordinating or conducting Doping Control, providing information relevant to the Athlete Biological Passport or other analytical results, to support an investigation into a potential anti-doping rule violation, or to support proceedings alleging an anti-doping rule violation; and shall be destroyed after it is no longer relevant for these purposes in accordance with the International Standard for Data Protection.

5.5.9    In accordance with the International Standard for Testing, the Commission has established an individual Testing Pool. 

5.5.10    The Commission shall notify Athletes before they are included in the individual Testing Pool and when they are removed. Such notification shall include the relevant whereabouts requirements as outlined in the International Standard for Testing and the consequences that apply if the Athlete fails to comply with those requirements.

5.5.11     Athletes included in the individual Testing Pool shall provide the Commission with whereabouts information in ADAMS so that they may be located and subjected to Testing.

5.5.11.1    For Athletes in the individual Testing Pool, the whereabouts information required is as follows: 

(a)    An overnight address;
(b)    Primary training location (if an Athlete from an Individual Sport/discipline does not have a fixed training location, they shall provide the address of the location where they will start and finish their training activity); 
(c)    Competition / Event schedule; and 
(d)    As part of filing their whereabouts an accurate passport style photograph in accordance with the requirements in ADAMS to assist with validating the Athlete’s identity when selected for a test. 

5.5.11.2     Athletes in the individual Testing Pool must also provide a complete mailing address and personal e-mail address where correspondence may be sent to the Athlete for formal notice purposes. Any notice or other item mailed to that address will be deemed to have been received by the Athlete at the latest seven (7) days after when it was deposited in the mail and immediately when an e-mail is sent (subject to applicable law). 

5.5.11.3     In addition to the mandatory whereabouts requirements listed in Articles 5.5.11.1 to 5.5.11.2, Athletes in the individual Testing Pool may file other alternative location(s) such as work or school where the Athlete may be located for Testing during the quarter. An Athlete may also provide travel information that may impact their availability for Testing.

5.5.12    Where an Athlete in the Commission’s individual Testing Pool fails to provide whereabouts information on or before the date required by the Commission or fails to provide accurate whereabouts information in accordance with Articles 5.5.11.1 and 5.5.11.2, the Commission shall consider elevating the Athlete to its Registered Testing Pool. Notwithstanding the foregoing, three such failures within a twelve (12) month period by an Athlete in the Commission’s individual Testing Pool shall result in the Athlete’s elevation to the Commission’s Registered Testing Pool and the Article 2.4 whereabouts requirements shall apply.  

5.6    Retired Athletes Returning to Competition

5.6    Retired Athletes Returning to Competition 

5.6.1    If an International or National-Level Athlete in the Commission’s Registered Testing Pool retires and then wishes to return to active participation in sport, the Athlete shall not compete in International Events or National Events until the Athlete has agreed to be bound by applicable anti-doping rules and has made themselves available for Testing, by giving six-months prior written notice to their International Federation and the Commission.

WADA, in consultation with the Commission and the Athlete's International Federation, may grant an exemption to the six-month written notice rule where the strict application of that rule would be unfair to the Athlete.³³   The exemption may be subject to one or more conditions that WADA and the relevant Anti-Doping Organisations may impose at their discretion including, without limitation, a minimum number of tests before participation in International Events or National Events or a restriction of the participation (during the exemption period) to specific International Events or National Events.

 A decision by WADA not to grant an exemption may be appealed under Article 13.2.³⁴

Any competitive results obtained in violation of this Article 5.6.1 shall be Disqualified unless the Athlete can establish that they could not have reasonably known that this was an International Event or a National Event.

5.6.2     If an Athlete retires from sport while subject to a period of Ineligibility, the Athlete shall notify the Anti-Doping Organisation that imposed the period of Ineligibility in writing of such retirement. If the Athlete then wishes to return to active competition in sport, the Athlete shall not compete in International Events or National Events until the Athlete has agreed to be bound by applicable anti-doping rules and has made themselves available for Testing by giving prior written notice to the Commission and to their International Federation for a period of time equal to the greater of (i) the period of Ineligibility not yet served as of the date of retirement or (ii) six (6) months.³⁵

5.7    Independent Observer Program

5.7    Independent Observer Program

The Commission and any organizing committees for National Events in New Zealand, shall authorize and facilitate the Independent Observer Program at such Events, as applicable.

5.8    Investigations and Intelligence Gathering

5.8    Investigations and Intelligence Gathering

5.8.1    The Commission shall have the capability to conduct, and shall conduct, investigations as necessary, and gather intelligence for any anti-doping purpose including, but not limited to, the purposes described in the Code and the International Standard for Intelligence and Investigations.

5.8.2    At any time during the course of an investigation the Commission may, by notice in writing served on any Participant or National Sporting Organisation, require that Participant or National Sporting Organisation to furnish to the Commission within the time and in the manner specified in the notice, any information or class of information specified in the notice; or produce to the Commission any document or class of documents specified in the notice; or (in the case of a Participant) to attend an interview before the Commission or any person authorised by the Commission at a time and place specified in the notice to answer any questions asked at the interview.

5.8.3    National Sporting Organisations and Participants shall promptly report any information, documentation or materials suggesting or relating to a potential anti-doping violation to the Commission and shall take all reasonable steps to assist and co-operate with any investigation conducted by the Commission into the commission of any anti-doping rule violation. National Sporting Organisations shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that all Participants under their authority co-operate with and assist the Commission in any investigation which it carries out under the Rules. In particular, and without limiting the foregoing, National Sporting Organisations must report any information suggesting or relating to an anti-doping rule violation to the Commission and co-operate with investigations conducted by the Commission and any other Anti-Doping Organisations.

5.8.4    In the course of an investigation, the Commission may inform any other third party of the investigation where it considers that this is required in order to carry out the investigation effectively. Where the Commission informs such a third party of any aspect of an investigation, it will give notice to the third party of the confidential nature of the investigation while also ensuring that any anti-doping intelligence or information is strictly provided to the third party on a need-to-know basis and shared in a secure manner in accordance with the International Standard for Data Protection and applicable law.

Footnotes

³¹      [Comment to Article 5.2.2: the Commission may obtain additional authority to conduct Testing by means of bilateral or multilateral agreements with other Signatories. Unless the Athlete has identified a sixty-minute Testing window between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., or has otherwise consented to Testing during that period, the Commission will not test an Athlete during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Athlete may be engaged in doping. A challenge to whether the Commission had sufficient suspicion for Testing during this time period shall not be a defense to an anti-doping rule violation based on such test or attempted test.]

³²      [Comment to Article 5.3.2: Before giving approval to the Commission to initiate and conduct Testing at an International Event, WADA shall consult with the international Anti-Doping Organization which is the ruling body for the Event. Before giving approval to an International Federation to initiate and conduct Testing at a National Event, WADA shall consult with the Commission. The Anti-Doping Organization “initiating and directing Testing” may, if it chooses, enter into agreements with a Delegated Third Party to which it delegates responsibility for Sample collection or other aspects of the Doping Control process.]

³³       [Comment to Article 5.6.1: Where the Athlete wishes to return to active participation in a sport different than the sport from which the Athlete retired, the relevant International Federation shall be the International Federation for the sport to which the Athlete wishes to return.]

³⁴       [Comment to Article 5.6.1: Guidance for determining whether an exemption is warranted will be provided by WADA.]

35  [Comment to Article 5.6.2: Nothing in the Code precludes an Anti-Doping Organization or other sport organization from adopting and enforcing eligibility rules that allow the organization to deny or revoke the membership of an Athlete who engaged in conduct, during a period of retirement when the Athlete was not subject to the Code, where such conduct would have constituted an anti-doping rule violation had it occurred while the Person was bound by rules adopted pursuant to the Code.]