WADA and UNODC strengthen cooperation against doping as the compliance system prepares for new rules from 2027
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has announced new results from its five-year cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), placing the exchange of scientific, technical and intelligence information at the center of the fight against doping in sport. According to WADA's announcement of 12 June 2026, the memorandum of understanding signed in February 2021 enabled a more structured framework of cooperation between the two organizations in the field of doping, illegal production and smuggling of substances that can be used to improve sporting performance. WADA states that the two organizations, following a joint report on the results achieved, agreed to confirm the memorandum and further strengthen activities in the coming years. Such continuation of cooperation is important because doping is no longer viewed only as a problem of sporting rules, but also as an issue of public health, transnational crime, laboratory forensics and the protection of athletes.
Cooperation focused on laboratories, new substances and organized crime
According to WADA, cooperation with UNODC over the past five years has covered five main areas: the exchange of scientific expertise, strengthening the analytical capacities of laboratories, data exchange on new substances, analysis of the role of transnational crime in the production and trade of substances used in doping, and information-sharing and awareness-raising. In practical terms, this means that the anti-doping system no longer depends only on the results of athlete testing, but also on earlier identification of risks, monitoring of illegal supply channels and understanding the ways in which prohibited substances are produced, distributed and concealed. When the agreement was signed in 2021, UNODC emphasized that cooperation should help strengthen early warning about new psychoactive and other dangerous substances, while WADA emphasized the protection of athletes' health and the integrity of competitions. Such an approach is especially important in a period in which markets for synthetic drugs and substances with possible use in doping are changing rapidly, while the boundary between illegal production, online sales and abuse in sport is increasingly difficult to monitor.
UNODC's early warning system on new psychoactive substances was established as a global tool for monitoring trends, harms, toxicological data and regulatory responses, according to data from that office. In the anti-doping context, such information can be important for laboratories, national anti-doping organizations and investigative teams because certain substances may appear outside traditional pharmaceutical and medical channels. WADA emphasizes that its work includes scientific and social research, education, intelligence and investigative activities, the development of anti-doping capacities and monitoring compliance with the World Anti-Doping Program. Joint work with UNODC therefore fits into a broader model in which the fight against doping is not reduced only to post-competition testing, but includes prevention, research, international data exchange and cooperation with services that monitor organized crime.
Why technical data exchange has become crucial
Doping in international sport is traditionally associated with the list of prohibited substances and methods, but WADA's latest emphases show that it is equally important to understand how prohibited substances appear on the market. According to WADA, the 2026 Prohibited List of substances and methods has been in force since 1 January 2026, and as one of the mandatory international standards it determines what is prohibited during competition, out of competition and in individual sports. Alongside the List, WADA also maintains a Monitoring Program for substances that are not on the list itself, but are monitored in order to detect possible patterns of abuse in sport. It is precisely in this area that the importance of cooperation with UNODC becomes visible: data on new substances, changes in illegal production and smuggling patterns can help the anti-doping system recognize risks more quickly before they become a widespread problem among athletes.
WADA's annual statistical reports further show how extensive the global testing system is and how dependent it is on standardized data. According to WADA's Testing Report for 2024, published in December 2025, the data cover samples reported by WADA-accredited laboratories and approved laboratories in the ADAMS system, the global platform for anti-doping administration and data management. WADA states that ADAMS enables the coordination of testing, results management, therapeutic use exemptions, the Athlete Biological Passport and other key procedures. When these data are connected with information on the emergence of new substances and criminal networks, anti-doping organizations can plan testing more precisely and direct resources toward the areas of greatest risk.
The Compliance Committee closed the procedure for Argentina
In the same week, WADA's independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) announced the outcomes of the meeting held on 27 and 28 May 2026 in Lausanne, with a prior closed session on 26 May. According to WADA, the Committee reviewed the status of several signatories to the World Anti-Doping Code and concluded that Argentina's national anti-doping organization had completed the remaining corrective actions, which means the procedure connected with its status on the watchlist can be officially closed. This decision is important because it shows that WADA's compliance system is not designed only as a sanctioning mechanism, but also as a process of correction and returning organizations to the full framework of the Code. National anti-doping organizations, international federations and other signatories must prove that their procedures, rules and implementation correspond to the standards prescribed by WADA for global sport.
According to the same announcement, the Russian national anti-doping organization and the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation (IFBB) are currently listed as non-compliant signatories. The Committee also reviewed other cases referred to it, which, if corrective actions are not completed, should be discussed at the CRC meeting in August and then presented to WADA's Executive Committee in September 2026 for a decision. WADA also stated that the CRC received information about the Georgian anti-doping system after the publication of Operation Obsidian, as well as about signatories updating anti-doping rules and, in some cases, legislation, ahead of the entry into force of the new Code on 1 January 2027. Such processes show that compliance is not a static check, but continuous monitoring of rules, institutions and practice.
The new Code changes the working framework from 2027
According to WADA, the 2027 World Anti-Doping Code and related international standards enter into force on 1 January 2027. WADA published the final versions of the Code in 2026, after a multi-year process of consultations and approval at the World Conference on Doping in Sport held in Busan at the end of 2025. In the Busan Declaration, according to WADA, clean sport stakeholders were called upon to strengthen education, deterrence, detection, investigations and sanctioning, increase resources for the protection of clean sport, strengthen cooperation and build trust in the anti-doping system. This is the context in which the latest work of the Compliance Review Committee should also be viewed, because national organizations, international federations and organizers of major competitions will have to adapt their own regulations and procedures to the new regulatory cycle.
According to WADA, at the May meeting the CRC also discussed greater transparency of compliance activities from 2027, especially after the entry into force of the new International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories. The Committee also considered WADA's proposal on a signatory focus group that would analyze compliance monitoring programs and make recommendations for the future. In addition, WADA reported that the Committee received information on the program-area monitoring tool introduced in 2025 and on proposals for a prioritization policy and signatory classification system. Such tools may become important because the global anti-doping system includes organizations with very different capacities, legal frameworks and sporting risks, so monitoring must be both standardized and adapted to concrete circumstances.
Talks in the United States and the broader debate on trust
According to source information, the week was also marked by talks connected with the Penrose Group Summit in the United States of America, where the topics of integrity, science and the future of clean sport were reopened. Publicly available data on the actual agenda and participants of that gathering are limited, so it is not possible to independently confirm all details of the discussions. In its public materials, USADA mentions the Penrose Summit as an international WADA summit in the context of its own organizational activities, while the broader context of the American anti-doping system shows that in the United States, debates on doping are often connected with institutional independence, athletes' rights, scientific credibility and procedural transparency. For this reason, such meetings have political and professional weight even when full minutes are not published.
The question of trust in the anti-doping system has been especially emphasized after a series of international debates on equality of treatment, transparency of decisions and independence of oversight. In its official documents, WADA emphasizes that its role is to develop, harmonize and coordinate anti-doping rules and policies across sports and countries, while national organizations carry out testing, education and procedures within their own jurisdictions. Such a division of responsibilities can be strong if standards are clear and implementation is consistent, but it can create pressure on the system when differences arise in capacities, interpretations or public perception of individual cases. That is precisely why the latest topics, from WADA and UNODC cooperation to the work of the CRC, can be read as an attempt to strengthen the institutional resilience of the anti-doping movement.
Clean sport increasingly depends on cooperation beyond sporting organizations
WADA's latest moves show that the fight against doping increasingly relies on a network of partnerships that go beyond traditional sporting institutions. Laboratories, police and customs services, international organizations, national authorities, research centers and anti-doping organizations possess different data, but those data become valuable only when they can be exchanged in a timely and lawful manner. According to WADA and UNODC, cooperation within the framework of the memorandum also includes the collection, storage and exchange of information in accordance with the applicable rules of each side. This is especially important because anti-doping investigations may include sensitive health data, laboratory findings, intelligence information and elements of criminal investigations.
For athletes, the consequences of such developments may be twofold. On the one hand, a stronger early warning system, better laboratory methodology and higher-quality investigation of illegal supply chains can help protect clean athletes from unfair competition. On the other hand, increasingly sophisticated oversight requires clear rules, legal certainty, the right to a fair procedure and transparent decisions. WADA's documents for the new Code cycle will therefore be crucial for the balance between effective detection of doping and protection of individual rights. In this framework, cooperation with UNODC, updates from the Compliance Review Committee and preparations for the 2027 Code represent three parts of the same process: strengthening the global anti-doping system at a moment when sporting competitions, science and organized crime are increasingly interconnected.
Sources:
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – announcement on the results of five-year cooperation with UNODC and the plan for further strengthening activities (link)
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – conclusions of the meeting of the independent Compliance Review Committee and the status of Code signatories (link)
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – information on the Code and international standards for 2027 (link)
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – announcement on the entry into force of the 2026 Prohibited List of substances and methods (link)
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – announcement on the partnership with WADA and areas of cooperation from 2021 (link)
- UNODC Synthetic Drugs Toolkit – information on athletes, opioids, educational materials and cooperation with WADA (link)
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – data on anti-doping statistics, ADAMS and testing reports (link)
- United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) – public material in which the Penrose Summit is mentioned in the context of an international WADA summit (link)