The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Tuesday confirmed Tunisia’s non-compliance with the world anti-doping code and announced sanctions against the country. Tunisia should no longer be able to host regional, continental or world championships, and the Tunisian flag will not be allowed to be raised at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, until the country can be reinstated by WADA.
Tunisian representatives will also not be eligible to serve on WADA committees or boards.
In a press release, the agency explains that the decision of non-compliance, “final” and “with immediate effect” against Tunisia, results from “its inability to fully implement the 2021 version of the world anti-doping code within its legal system.
The country had four months from November 2023 to adopt “a certain number of modifications to legislative and regulatory texts” to comply with the Tunisian legal framework code.
But as of early April, “the non-compliances were still not resolved” and the Tunisian national anti-doping organization (ANAD) “did not contest” WADA’s allegation of non-compliance.
The global agency based in Montreal points out that three other organizations are non-compliant with the world anti-doping code: the national Olympic committee of Angola, the Russian anti-doping agency and the International Federation of Fitness and Bodybuilding.