Aims and Objectives

Swiss Sport Integrity makes vital contribution to the integrity of sport by means of testing, investigations, prevention work, applied research, receiving and investigating reports of ethical violations, and through national and international collaboration. Swiss Sport Integrity protects the right of athletes to equal opportunities, to fair and to doping-free sport, and thus helps to uphold the sporting credibility that the public expects.

The aims of the Swiss Sport Integrity Foundation are to combat doping, ethical misconduct and wrongdoing in sport in a sustainable and effective manner. In doing so, Swiss Sport Integrity is guided by international guidelines as well as the principles of the Doping Statute of Swiss Olympic and the Statutes on Ethics in Swiss Sport, and has the necessary international recognitions.

Our Vision

Athletes can engage in sports in a safe, fair and doping-free environment.

Our Values

  • Integrity: We live by ethical standards and show honesty, stability and fairness in all our activities.
  • Independence: We work in an unbiased, impartial, and objective manner.
  • Respect: We treat others with the highest possible degree of dignity, equality and trust.
  • Reliability: Our activities and actions are transparent, measurable, and clear.
  • Innovation: We develop and promote forward-thinking, practical, and workable solutions and models.
  • Collaboration: We promote collaboration within the team, and with national and international partners.

Legal Foundations and Authority

The legal foundation for the activities of Swiss Sport Integrity is provided at the statute level by Article 19 of the Federal Act on the Promotion of Sport and Exercise (SpoPA). Meanwhile, the Swiss Olympic Doping Statute and the signing of the World Anti-Doping Code, constitute the basis for its work under private law in Switzerland.

ISO Certification

The role of Swiss Sport Integrity is to monitor athletes in Switzerland. We also have our own work overseen by external agencies, and are ISO-certified, currently under the norms laid down in ISO 9001:2015.

Furthermore, the World Anti-Doping Agency conducts regular reviews to ensure that our work fulfills the requirements and quality standards of the World Anti-Doping Program.

History

In Switzerland, the first “Instructions on Combatting Doping”' were issued between 1963 and 1967. At the same time, a doping laboratory was set up at the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO) research laboratory in Magglingen.

1987: The national organization then known as the “Schweizerische Landesverband für Sport (SLS)” set up an interdisciplinary project group to draw up a modern and practice-oriented doping statute.

1990: As a result of this work, a newly created expert commission under the SLS was given the task of combatting doping in Switzerland.

In September 1992, an independent Doping Investigation Commission was set up by the informal "Sport Switzerland" working group. Its objective was to investigate and assess doping allegations directed against Switzerland (see Report in German).

In 1993, Switzerland signed the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention. This gave the federal government responsibility for the fight against doping, which had previously been organized on a purely private-sector level. The work was divided into three areas: testing was the responsibility of the sports organizations, while the federal government took on responsibility for prevention, information, and applied research.

In view of the events surrounding the Tour de France in 1998, in November 1999 the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was created in Lausanne as a foundation under Swiss law.

On 1 January 2000, the first Swiss Olympic Doping Statute entered into force. (At the time, Swiss Olympic was known as the Swiss Olympic Association, SOV). The Statute implements the World Anti-Doping Code in Switzerland.

In 2002, articles on combating doping were incorporated into the Federal Act on the Promotion of Gymnastics and Sport, which is now known as the Federal Act on the Promotion of Sport and Exercise (SpoPA). Swiss Olympic set up a centralized Disciplinary Chamber for Doping Cases (DC), which is responsible for issuing first-instance rulings on doping violations in all sports.

In 2004, the World Anti-Doping Agency accredited the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses (LAD) at the University Hospital of Vaud (CHUV) in Lausanne for the first time.

1 July 2008 saw the establishment of the Antidoping Switzerland Foundation. This independent national center of excellence is the successor organization to the merger of the anti-doping department at the Federal Office of Sport and Swiss Olympic's Committee for the Fight against Doping.

The revision of the Federal Act on the Promotion of Sport and Exercise (SpoPA) and its related ordinance with effect from 1 October 2012 toughened up the criminal provisions applicable to individuals associated with doping. The new legislation also permitted the exchange of data and information between government agencies such as the customs authorities, the Swissmedic drug licensing agency, and public prosecutors' offices, with Antidoping Switzerland. The premise of the SpoPA remains that any athlete who dopes should be punished under private law as it relates to sport rather than by federal statute. Doping-related activities by those athletes' associates may still be prosecuted under federal law, however.

In autumn 2020, the publication of various report about the misconduct and abuses in Swiss sport has caused consternation and the political scene has acted accordingly. In November 2020, the Council of States, the National Council, Swiss Olympic and the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO) advised on the issue and finally demanded the creation of an independent advice center or reporting service for Swiss sport. Since Antidoping Switzerland already had independent, functioning and recognized structures in Swiss sport, the plan arose to integrate the advice center and the pursuit of ethical violations there.

On 1 January 2022, the Antidoping Switzerland Foundation was transformed into the Swiss Sport Integrity Foundation. This gave Swiss sport an independent and secure advice center to detect and eliminate any ethics violations and abuses as quickly as possible.