WADA postpones its Annual Symposium to 11-12 June 2022 and its Therapeutic Use Exemption Symposium to 2023

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regrets to announce that, due to ongoing disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, WADA has decided once again to postpone the following events to dates when we hope to be able to welcome significant numbers of our stakeholder community in person.

• The 2022 Annual Symposium, which was to be held in a hybrid fashion (in-person/virtual) on 23-24 March 2022 at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, is postponed to 11-12 June 2022 – to be held in the same fashion and at the same venue.

For now, stakeholders are kindly asked to take note of the new date. Over the coming weeks, more detail will be communicated regarding the theme, agenda, and registration.

The Annual Symposium, which is traditionally the biggest gathering on the anti-doping calendar, is designed for anti-doping practitioners from International Federations, National and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations and Major Event Organizations, Athletes and Athlete representatives, Governments, WADA-accredited laboratories and Athlete Passport Management Units, as well as other stakeholders such as service providers, researchers and the media – all that are integral to clean sport.

As was the case in 2020 and 2021, WADA plans to hold webinars on a range of topics complementary to the Symposium; regarding which, more detail will follow in the coming weeks.

• The Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Symposium, which was to be held on 21-22 April 2022 in Incheon, South Korea, is postponed to Q2-2023.  It is still to be hosted by the Korea Anti-Doping Agency (KADA).   

For now, stakeholders are kindly asked to take note of the months. The exact date will be communicated over the coming weeks.

The primary objective of the TUE Symposium is to harmonize the approach to TUEs, which ensure that athletes with legitimate medical conditions may participate in sport despite their need for a prohibited substance or method. The Symposium includes interactive discussions on medical cases; medico-legal issues; retroactive TUEs; and, the challenges regarding global harmonization of practices. The goal is to ensure that fairness is maintained, and athletes are afforded similar opportunities, regardless of their sport, geographical location or specific medical issues. 

As it relates to WADA’s Global Education Conference, which is to be held on 20-22 September 2022 and be hosted by Sport Integrity Australia in Sydney, the date is currently maintained. 

WADA is committed to ensuring the health and safety of its stakeholder community and the Agency’s staff.  We will continue to monitor the evolution of the pandemic and base our decisions regarding whether or not to hold such large-scale in-person/hybrid gatherings on directives by public health authorities.

Should you have any questions regarding these events, please contact WADA’s Manager, Projects & Events, Anaïs Lefevre, at anais.lefevre@wada-ama.org.

We very much look forward to welcoming participants to these important events that help advance the global collaborative mission for doping-free sport.