5.1 Purpose of Testing and Investigations

5.1 Purpose of Testing and Investigations

Testing and investigations may be undertaken for any anti-doping purpose.²⁶

5.1.1 The Commission shall undertake Testing to obtain analytical evidence as to whether the Athlete has violated Rule 2.1 (Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an Athlete’s Sample) or Rule 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method).

5.2 Authority to Test

Any Athlete (including any Athlete serving a period of Ineligibility) may be required to provide a Sample at any time and at any place by any Anti-Doping Organisation with Testing authority over him or her, subject to the limitations for Event Testing set out in Rule 5.3.²⁷ 

5.2.1 The Commission shall have In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing authority over all Athletes who are nationals, residents, license-holders or members of sport organisations of New Zealand or who are present in New Zealand.

5.2.2 Each International Federation shall have In-Competition and Out-of- Competition Testing authority over all Athletes who are subject to its rules, including those who participate in International Events or who participate in Events governed by the rules of that International Federation, or who are members or license-holders of that International Federation or its member National Sporting Organisations, or their members.

5.2.3 Each Major Event Organisation, including the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee, shall have In-Competition Testing authority for its Events and Out-of-Competition Testing authority over all Athletes entered in one of its future Events or who have otherwise been made subject to the Testing authority of the Major Event Organisation for a future Event.

5.2.4 WADA shall have In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing authority as set out in Article 20.7.10 of the Code.

5.2.5 The Commission and other Anti-Doping Organisations may test any Athlete over whom they have Testing authority who has not retired, including Athletes serving a period of Ineligibility.

5.2.6 If an International Federation or Major Event Organisation delegates or contracts any part of Testing to the Commission directly or through a National Sporting Organisation, 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.

5.3 Testing at Events

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 taking place in New Zealand, the international Organisation which is the ruling body for the Event (e.g., the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games, the International Federation for a World Championship, and the Panam Sports for the Pan American Games) shall have authority to conduct Testing. At National Events taking place in New Zealand, the Commission shall have authority to conduct Testing. At the request of the ruling body for an Event, any Testing during the Event Period outside of the Event Venues shall be coordinated with that ruling body.²⁸ 

5.3.2 If the Commission, 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 Commission shall first confer with the ruling body of the Event to obtain permission to conduct and coordinate such Testing. If the Commission is not satisfied with the response from the ruling body of the Event, the Commission may, in accordance described in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations, 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 authorisation to conduct Testing, such tests shall be considered Out-of-Competition tests. Results Management for any such test shall be the responsibility of the Commission unless provided otherwise in the rules of the ruling body of the Event.²⁹ 

5.3.3 The Commission shall conduct Testing at National Events and may initiate, direct and conduct Testing at an International Event in accordance with the provisions of Rule 5.3.

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 Investigations.

5.4.2 Where reasonably feasible, Testing shall be coordinated through ADAMS in order to maximize the effectiveness of the combined Testing effort and to avoid unnecessary repetitive Testing.

5.5 Athlete Whereabouts Information

Athletes who have been included in a Registered Testing Pool by their International Federation and/or the Commission shall provide whereabouts information in the manner specified in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations, and shall be subject to Consequences for Rule 2.4 violations as provided in Rule 10.3.2. The International Federations and the Commission shall coordinate the identification of such Athletes and the collection of their whereabouts information. the Commission shall make available, through ADAMS, a list which identifies those Athletes included in its Registered Testing Pool by name. Athletes shall be notified before they are included in a Registered Testing Pool and when they are removed from that pool. The whereabouts information they provide while in the Registered Testing Pool will be accessible through ADAMS to WADA and to other Anti-Doping Organisations having authority to test the Athlete as provided in Rule 5.2. Whereabouts information shall be maintained in strict confidence at all times; 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 the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information.

The Commission may, in accordance with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations, establish Testing Pools, which may include Athletes who are subject to less stringent whereabouts requirements than Athletes included in the Commission’s Registered Testing Pool, and impose appropriate and proportionate non-Code Rule 2.4 consequences in case the Athletes do not comply with such whereabouts requirements.

The Commission may, in accordance with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations, collect whereabouts information from Athletes who are not included within a Registered Testing Pool and impose appropriate and proportionate non-Code Rule 2.4 consequences.

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: (a) made themselves available for Testing for a period of six months before returning to competition, including (if requested) complying with the whereabouts requirements of the International Standard for Testing and Investigations; and (b) given six months prior written notice of their intent to resume competing to their International Federation and the Commission. WADA, in consultation with the relevant International Federation and the Commission, may grant an exemption to the six-month written notice rule where the strict application of that rule would be unfair to an Athlete. This decision may be appealed under Rule 13.³⁰ 

5.6.1.1 Any competitive results obtained in violation of Rule 5.6.1 shall be Disqualified unless the Athlete can establish that he or she 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 must notify the Commission, and if applicable, the other 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 made himself or herself available for Testing by giving six months prior written notice (or notice equivalent to the period of Ineligibility remaining as of the date the Athlete retired, if that period was longer than six months) to the Athlete’s International Federation and the Commission, including (if requested) complying with the whereabouts requirements of the International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

5.7 Investigations and Intelligence Gathering

The Commission shall have the capability to conduct, and shall conduct, investigations and gather intelligence as required by the International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

5.8 Independent Observer Program

The Commission, National Sporting Organisations and the organising committees for Events and their employees, contractors, officials, and agents shall provide access to Persons participating in the Independent Observer Program at Events.

Footnotes

^{26 [Comment to Rule 5.1: Where Testing is conducted for anti-doping purposes, the analytical results and data may be used for other legitimate purposes under the Anti-Doping Organisation’s rules. See, e.g., Comment to Article 23.2.2.]}

^{27 [Comment to Rule 5.2: Additional authority to conduct Testing may be conferred by means of bilateral or multilateral agreements among Signatories. Unless the Athlete has identified a 60-minute Testing window during the following-described time period, or otherwise consented to Testing during that period, before Testing an Athlete between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., an Anti-Doping Organisation should have serious and specific suspicion that the Athlete may be engaged in doping. A challenge to whether an Anti- Doping Organisation had sufficient suspicion for Testing during this time period shall not be a defence to an anti-doping rule violation based on such test or attempted test.]}

^{28 [Comment to Rule 5.3.1: Some ruling bodies for International Events may be doing their own Testing outside of the Event Venues during the Event Period and thus want to coordinate that Testing with the Commission Testing.]}

^{29 [Comment to Rule 5.3.2: Before giving approval to a National Anti-Doping Organisation to initiate and conduct Testing at an International Event, WADA shall consult with the international organisation 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 National Anti-Doping Organisation of the country where the Event takes place. The Anti-Doping Organisation “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.]}

^{30 [Comment to Rule 5.6.1 Guidance for determining whether an exemption is warranted will be provided by WADA.]}