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AUSTRALIAN SPORTS DRUG AGENCY REGULATIONS 1999 1999 NO. 159
EXPLANATORY STATEMENTSTATUTORY RULES 1999 No. 159
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Sport and Tourism
Australian Sports Drug Agency Act 1990
Australian Sports Drug Agency Regulations 1999
Section 73 of the Australian Sports Drug Agency Act 1990 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make Regulations for the purposes of the Act.
The Act has been amended by the Australian Sports Drug Agency Amendment Act 1999 (the Amendment Act) which commences on 1 August 1999.
The aim of the Amendment Act is to ensure that the Australian Sports Drug Agency (the Agency) has the ability through its functions and powers to deliver a high quality and accessible anti-doping program to enable Australian sport to deter athletes from banned doping practice. In addition the Amendment Act also provides surety that important athlete rights are maintained through out the chug testing process. (ie. to ensure natural justice is available to athletes subject to the requirements of anti-doping programs provided by the Agency).
The Amendment Act ensures that the Agency has flexibility under its legislation to undertake its responsibilities effectively and to provide leadership in the international fight against the use of drugs in sport up to and beyond the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In addition the Amendment Act significantly enhances the Agency's ability to provide best practice in doping control. The Amending Act introduces the following additional elements to the overall Agency legislative framework:
* The concept of drug testing schemes to enable the Agency to deliver its drug testing services to sport;
* Establishing an independent medical advisory committee to help manage positive test results.;
* Setting in place a formal process to address the issue of athletes who need to take banned or restricted substances for legitimate medical reasons;
* Allowing the Agency to operate under broader anti-doping standards than those set down in the International Olympic Committee's Medical Code;
* Strengthening the Agency's capacity to deal with positive test results returned by foreign athlete's training or competing in Australia;
* Enabling the States and Territories to access the Agency's drug testing expertise;
* Operational flexibility in relation to enabling the Agency to accommodate different requirements for drug testing programs that individual sports organisations are seeking to have applied to their competitors;
* Enabling the Agency to provide ancillary sports drug testing services such as social drug testing and health and safety checking; and
* Enabling the Agency to receive information from the Australian Customs Service relating to the importation or possible importation of banned performance enhancing substances.
Section 11 of the Amendment Act enables regulations to be made for the formulation of one or more Drug Testing Schemes. Drug Testing Schemes provide for the manner in which the Agency shall conduct drug testing services.
The Australian Sports Drug Agency Regulations 1999 (the Regulations) create a single drug testing scheme (Scheme A) which applies to all competitors within the meaning of the consolidated Agency legislative framework. There is scope in the Amendment Act for the formulation of additional drug testing schemes in the future.
The drug testing scheme within the Regulations provides for:
* the manner m which Agency representatives and Sporting Administration Body (SAB) representatives present themselves to athletes selected for drug testing;
* the manner in which the Agency is to make requests for samples;
* the manner in which the Agency may have samples collected from competitors tested.,
* the resultant action to be carried out where analysis of a sample leads to a positive drug test result;
* the manner in which the Agency is to respond when an entry is made to a Register of Notifiable Events (this occurs for positive drug test results for banned sports substances and failures to comply with a request for the provision of a sample);
* who the Agency must and/or may notify when an entry is made to a Register of Notifiable Events;
* the manner in which the Agency is to ensure that athlete rights and access to natural justice within the drug testing process is maintained," and
* the functions the Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee (ASDMAC) can perform under a drug testing scheme.
Further information on the content of Scheme A is set out in the Australian Sports Drug Agency Drug Testing (Scheme A) Orders 1999, which complement the Regulations. Other matters provided for in the Regulations that do not relate directly to Scheme A are:
* the manner in which meetings of the ASDMAC are to be conducted;
* the manner in which the Agency may make delegations;
* the circumstances as to when a notice issued by the Agency is taken to have been received by a competitor or a SAB; and
* the listing of anti-doping arrangements to which Australia or the Agency is a signatory.
The major thrust of the Regulations is to ensure that procedures to be followed by the Agency m delivering drug testing services to sport are conducted in a consistent generic manner. The single drug testing scheme prescribed is so the Agency can reasonably apply those procedures in a best practice environment to all athletes in all sports.
The Regulations are expressed to commence on the same day as the amending Act, that is 1 August 1999. The Privacy Commissioner has been consulted but notes that compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 will depend upon the way Drug Testing Scheme A is implemented.