May 10, 2019 – FIS signed an agreement with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), delegating adjudicatory powers for the determination of anti-doping rule violations and the resulting sanctions to the new CAS Anti-Doping Division yesterday.

President Gian Franco Kasper and Secretary General Sarah Lewis for FIS signed the agreements during the SportAccord convention in Gold Coast (AUS) in concert with John Coates AC, President of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport and Matthieu Reeb, Secretary General of CAS.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has a full-time permanent Anti-Doping Division (ADD) acting as an independent first instance for international cases. The CAS ADD was implemented successfully at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games after its introduction for Rio 2016, notably to consolidate the proceedings of the IOC and IF and avoid two separate first instance procedures. The Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-Doping Division will therefore replace the role of an International Federation Anti-Doping Panel.

The role of the newly-established CAS ADD will fulfil the decision of the FIS Congress 2018 to refer cases to an Independent Doping Panel to comply with the principle of the separation of powers.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division has been established at the request of the Olympic Summit and follows the success of the separate CAS Ad Hoc Anti-Doping Divisions at recent Olympic Games,  Mr Coates said. We are pleased that the International Olympic Federations are following the lead of the IOC. 

FIS is the first winter IF to delegate this authority to the CAS Anti-Doping Division.

Justice Patrick Smith, Chairman of the FIS Doping Panel stated: “The transition of authority for the adjudication of doping cases to the CAS Anti-Doping Division is a welcome step in FIS’ governance role to ensure a fair juridical process for all parties”.