Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport

(Ottawa, Ontario – July 13, 2020) – The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) would like to alert the Canadian sport community to a revision to the final version of the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) that expressly permits data from sample analysis to be used for gender verification purposes. The revision was included in the fourth draft of the 2021 Code, created after the final phase of public consultation that closed on March 4, 2019, and which went to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee for approval in September 2019. 

The specific revision is located in the comments associated with 2021 WADA Code Article 23.2.2 which states:

“[…] Similarly, an International Federation could use data from a Doping Control test to monitor eligibility relating to transgender and other eligibility rules.”

The CCES had not identified this revision in the final version of the 2021 Code, which was approved in November 2019 and as such, this matter has not been highlighted as a significant change to be considered by the Canadian sport community as consultation unfolds on Drafts 1 and 2 of the 2021 Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP). In follow up with WADA, the CCES was informed that it is WADA’s view that it is reasonable and appropriate for Code signatories to be able to use anti-doping sample analysis data for other non anti-doping purposes, including gender verification. This is considered fully consistent with the principle that information from doping control samples may be used to enforce non-doping-related rules.

As part of the CCES’s consultation on Draft 2 of the CADP, we welcome your comments on this addition to Code Article 23.2.2 and its potential implications for the 2021 CADP. The CCES will host a dedicated webinar on this point in the coming weeks. 

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the CCES at [email protected].

About the CCES

The CCES is an independent, national, not-for profit organization with a responsibility to administer the Canadian Anti-Doping Program. We recognize that true sport can make a great difference for individuals, communities and our country. The CCES acknowledges funding, in part, from the Government of Canada. We are committed to making sport better by working collaboratively to activate a values-based and principle-driven sport system; protecting the integrity of sport from the negative forces of doping and other unethical threats; and advocating for sport that is fair, safe and open to everyone.