NADA Germany with Monitoring Group in Austria

The National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA Germany) was in Austria as part of a delegation of the Council of Europe Monitoring Group to evaluate the implementation of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention. The team consisted of anti-doping experts from Germany, represented by Dr Eva Bunthoff (NADA board member), Italy, Great Britain, Azerbaijan, Lithuania and a representative of the Council of Europe. In addition to discussions with those responsible at NADA Austria and a visit to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Seibersdorf, the programme focused on meetings with various Austrian ministries: Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Federal Ministry of Finance, Anti-Fraud, Taxes and Customs, Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.

The Council of Europe's Anti-Doping Convention came into force in 1990 and has since been ratified by 52 contracting parties, EU member states and other observer states outside the EU. The aim of the Convention is to harmonise anti-doping laws and establish binding rules. The Anti-Doping Convention is the authoritative international legal document for anti-doping work. It sets common binding standards and guidelines that oblige the contracting parties to take certain legal, financial, technical, preventive and other measures. Signatory states should, among other things, make it more difficult to acquire and use prohibited substances. Responsibility for monitoring the obligations set out in the Convention lies with the Council of Europe's Monitoring Group.