Daily News Analysis ‘The National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2025’ : 26 December

Why in News?

• The National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 14, 2025, to align India’s anti-doping legal framework with the latest World Anti-Doping Code and international best practices.

Core Objective: Alignment with Global Standards

• The Bill seeks to fulfill India’s international obligations under the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.
• It proposes to give the force of law to specific provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code) within India.
• A key amendment is the insertion of a Schedule to the Act, which explicitly lists Articles from the Code that will now be legally binding.
• This move ensures that India’s domestic anti-doping rules are robust, uniform, and in lockstep with the global Anti-Doping Organisation (ADO) standards.

Enhanced Institutional Independence

• The Bill mandates operational independence for the Director General and staff of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
• They must function independently from National Sports Federations, the Government, and the National Olympic Committee to avoid conflicts of interest.
• The National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel is also granted greater autonomy in its decisions pertaining to operations, investigations, and enforcement activities.
• This structural shift aims to ensure that decisions regarding doping violations and appeals are entirely merit-based and free from external influence.

Expanded Scope of Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV)

• The Bill redefines ADRVs to include a wider range of activities beyond just the presence of a prohibited substance.
• New violations include retaliation or intimidation against anyone who reports information related to an alleged violation to the authorities in good faith.
• Prohibited association is explicitly detailed to prevent athletes from working with support personnel (like coaches or doctors) who are serving ineligibility periods.
• The principle of Strict Liability is reinforced, where an athlete is responsible for any prohibited substance found in their sample regardless of intent, fault, or negligence.

Procedural Reforms in Sample Collection and Testing

• The definition of in-competition is refined to the period starting at 11:59 p.m. on the day before a competition until the end of the competition and the related sample collection process.
• NADA is empowered to require an athlete to submit samples for testing at any time and place if there are “reasons to believe” an ADRV has been committed.
• The Bill introduces technical definitions for markers and metabolites to more accurately identify the use of prohibited substances or methods.
• All testing and laboratory procedures are now explicitly subject to the International Standard for Laboratories to ensure scientific rigor.

Results Management and Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE)

• A formal Result Management process is established to handle adverse analytical findings from laboratories.
• The Agency must verify if a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) was granted to the athlete before proceeding with enforcement actions.
• It also checks if any departure from the International Standard for Testing and Investigations may have caused the adverse finding.
• The term Therapeutic Exemption is standardized to Therapeutic Use Exemption across the entire Act for global consistency.

New Appellate Hierarchy and the Court of Arbitration for Sport

• The Bill formalizes the path to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne for international-level disputes.
• International bodies like WADA, the IOC, and the IPC are granted the right to appeal decisions made by India’s Appeal Panel directly to CAS.
• In cases involving international events, the concerned athlete or NADA may also appeal a Disciplinary Panel decision to CAS.
• WADA is given a special right to appeal directly to CAS without exhausting domestic remedies if no other party has filed an appeal.

Legal Integration with Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita

• The Bill updates legal references to align with India’s modernized criminal laws.
• Specifically, it substitutes references to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
• This ensures that the investigative and procedural powers of anti-doping authorities remain valid and legally sustainable under the current penal framework.
• The Central Government is now empowered to prescribe rules for the constitution and appointment process of the Appeal Panel.