The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has revoked the accreditation of the Athletes' Anti-Doping Laboratory in Almaty, Kazakhstan and of the South African Doping Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein, South Africa due to non-compliance with the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL) and the related Technical Documents.
Both Laboratories, which had already had their WADA accreditations suspended, were notified of WADA's Executive Committee decision on 29 June 2017; and, the revocations will enter into force within 30 days of notification. In the meantime, their suspensions remain applicable and both Laboratories are ineligible to perform analysis of doping control samples for WADA or any other testing authority.
On 28 June 2016, the Almaty Laboratory was suspended for a period of four months, which was subsequently extended until 24 April 2017. On 2 May 2016, the Bloemfontein Laboratory was suspended for a period of five months, which was subsequently extended until 30 March 2017. In accordance with the ISL, a laboratory that has had its WADA accreditation suspended remains suspended pending reinstatement of its accreditation by WADA.
At the end of these extended suspension periods, WADA's Laboratory Expert Group (LabEG) considered that neither Laboratory had satisfactorily addressed the outstanding non-conformities with the ISL. Accordingly, the LabEG reported the cases to the WADA Disciplinary Committee, which is constituted to review such cases and issue recommendations. Consequently, recommendations were made to the Executive Committee, which decided that both Laboratories' WADA accreditation should be revoked.
The Laboratories may appeal the decisions to revoke their respective WADA accreditations to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.
WADA is responsible for accrediting and re-accrediting anti-doping laboratories, thereby ensuring that they maintain the highest quality standards. This monitoring role is conducted in conjunction with ISO assessment by independent national accreditation bodies that are full members of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
Pursuant to Article 4.4.13.2.2 of the ISL, the WADA Executive Committee shall revoke the accreditation of any laboratory [under the provisions of the ISL] if it determines that revocation is necessary to ensure the full reliability and accuracy of analytical testing and the accurate reporting of analytical results. More specifically, this article of the ISL provides that a WADA-accredited laboratory's accreditation may be revoked if a laboratory fails to correct a lack of compliance with any of the requirements or standards listed in the ISL during a suspension period. Further, Article 4.4.13.2.1, para. 4 of the ISL indicates that a suspended laboratory's failure to provide WADA with satisfactory evidence that it has corrected the non-compliances [with the ISL] by the end of an extended suspension period shall have its WADA accreditation revoked.