WADA does not appeal CAS decision regarding Russian Anti-Doping Agency to Swiss Federal Tribunal

Following the passing of the deadline to appeal the December 2020 decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which ruled in favor of WADA and declared RUSADA non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, WADA confirms that it did not appeal the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

WADA was disappointed that the CAS Panel, based on its own assessment of proportionality, decided not to impose all the consequences that WADA sought (and not for the full four-year period). However, the grounds of appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal are limited to procedural matters such as jurisdiction, the composition of the Panel and the right to be heard. The Swiss Federal Tribunal does not conduct a review of the merits and would therefore not interfere with the Panel's assessment of the proportionality of the consequences. As a result, and following unanimous advice from in-house and external legal counsels, WADA strongly believes an appeal would have served no useful purpose and decided to refrain from doing so.