(Reuters) – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Friday it has revoked the accreditation of the Athens anti-doping laboratory due to non-compliance.
WADA said the lab, which it initially suspended in October 2019 due to a lack of institutional support and investment, may appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days of its receipt of the decision.
The suspension means the lab is ineligible to analyse doping control samples for anti-doping organisations that are compliant with the world anti-doping code.
The Athens lab was suspended for six months in October 2019 due to non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL) as identified during a WADA site visit.
The suspension was extended to 12 months before a further extension of six months was granted as it was determined the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the lab’s ability to address the non-compliances identified and to regain its accreditation.
During the extended suspension period, WADA did a remote assessment of the lab and concluded it had not satisfactorily addressed the identified non-compliances with the ISL and could not operate at the level expected of a WADA-accredited lab.
Consequently, a disciplinary committee was established in accordance with the ISL and their recommendation to suspend the lab was approved on Thursday by WADA’s Executive Committee.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
