Sport

This year, the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Symposium is being co-organised with the Cyprus Anti-doping Authority.

In previous years, the Monitoring Group of the Anti-Doping Convention organised two legal seminars, one in Oslo in 2015 and one in Vilnius in 2017. Those seminars were held successfully and the member states welcomed the organisation of such seminars. During the 47th meeting of the Monitoring Group in Strasbourg, and following the request by the member states, the decision to establish a series of annual events on the standards of the Monitoring Group was taken. This year, the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Symposium is being co-organised (in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 16 April 2018) with the Cyprus Anti-doping Authority.

The symposium will focus on a balanced, current and relevant analysis of the underlying legal, political, and communication correlations of two Monitoring Group recommendations : 1) Recommendation on ensuring the independence of hearing panels (bodies) and promoting fair trial in anti-doping cases (T-DO/Rec(2017)01), and 2) Recommendation of the Monitoring Group on Information Sharing between Public Agencies and Anti-Doping Organisations in the Fight against Doping (Rec (2016) 1).

The purpose of the symposium is to facilitate a series of honest and open high-level discussions on both Recommendations, their implementation in the national systems and their functionality and serviceability, not only for the Parties of the Anti-Doping Convention but for the whole Anti-Doping community. Through the symposium, the aim is to elaborate and expatiate on the subjects reflected in the Recommendations and hence develop stronger national sport policies. The participants will be encouraged to share their national experience regarding the implementation of the Recommendations. Challenges faced by member states will be addressed during the symposium and proposals for action will be set throughout the discussions. Representatives from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will contribute to the symposium by elaborating on how the standards of the Monitoring Group are conjugated with the World Anti-Doping Code and the WADA Standards, with a view to developing further synergies.

The following day (17 April 2018), the Meeting of the Co-ordination group of the Anti-Doping Convention will be held.