WADA withdraws notice of non-compliance sent to Cambodian Anti-Doping Agency

Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) shared an update regarding the compliance status of the National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) of Cambodia.  

On 16 November 2023, WADA issued an all-stakeholder communication confirming that the Cambodian NADO was added to WADA’s compliance ‘watchlist’, following the recommendation from the independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC). The NADO had not corrected a critical non-conformity related to the implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) in the national legal system.   

At the expiration of the ‘watchlist’ period, the non-conformity had still not been corrected. Therefore, WADA issued a formal notice on 18 March 2024. The NADO had 21 days following the date of receipt of the formal notice of non-compliance to dispute WADA’s allegation of non-compliance, as well as the proposed consequences and/or the reinstatement conditions proposed by WADA’s Executive Committee (ExCo).  

On 5 April 2024, the relevant Cambodian public authorities adopted a new Government decree, which came into force on the same day. Its content has since been reviewed and deemed to be in line with the World Anti-Doping Code and International Standards. Therefore, in light of Article 9.3.1.1 of the International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories, the CRC recommended to the ExCo to withdraw the formal notice. 

The ExCo endorsed the CRC recommendation and the compliance procedure has subsequently been closed.