S.L. 455.13 ст. 2Interpretation. Cap. 455 Cap. 455.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires or specified in the Code:

"Act" means the Sports Act;

"ADAMS" means the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System, which is a web-based database management tool for data entry, storage, sharing, and reporting designed to assist stakeholders and WADA in their anti-doping operations in conjunction with data protection legislation;

"ADC" and "NADOMALTA" mean the Anti-Doping Commission appointed by the Minister responsible for Sport to oversee all aspects of NADOMALTA’s Anti-Doping Program in accordance with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations. The ADC is to consist of a chairperson and a minimum of three and a maximum of five other members with expertise in the field of anti-doping;

"Administration" means providing, supplying, supervising, facilitating, or otherwise participating in the Use or Attempted Use by another Person of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method. However, this definition shall not include the actions of bona fide medical personnel involving a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method Used for genuine and legal therapeutic purposes or other acceptable justification and shall not include actions involving Prohibited Substances which are not prohibited in Out-of-Competition Testing unless the circumstances as a whole demonstrate that such Prohibited Substances are not intended for genuine and legal therapeutic purposes or are intended to enhance sport performance;

"Adverse Analytical Finding" means a report from a WADA-accredited laboratory or other WADA-approved laboratory that, consistent with the International Standard for Laboratories, establishes in a Sample the presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers or evidence of the Use of a Prohibited Method;

"Adverse Passport Finding" means a report identified as an Adverse Passport Finding as described in the applicable International Standards; "Aggravating Circumstances" means circumstances involving, or actions by, an Athlete or other Person which may justify the imposition of a period of Ineligibility greater than the standard sanction. Such circumstances and actions shall include, but are not limited to: the Athlete or other Person Used or Possessed multiple Prohibited Substances or Prohibited Methods, Used or Possessed a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method on multiple occasions or committed multiple other anti-doping rule violations; a normal individual would be likely to enjoy the performance-enhancing effects of the anti-doping rule violation(s) beyond the otherwise applicable period of Ineligibility; the Athlete or Person engaged in deceptive or obstructive conduct to avoid the detection or adjudication of an anti-doping rule violation; or the Athlete or other Person engaged in Tampering during Results Management. For the avoidance of doubt, the examples of circumstances and conduct described herein are not exclusive and other similar circumstances or conduct may also justify the imposition of a longer period of Ineligibility;

"Anti-Doping Activities" means anti-doping Education and information, test distribution planning, maintenance of a Registered Testing Pool, managing Athlete Biological Passports, conducting Testing, organizing analysis of Samples, gathering of intelligence and conduct of investigations, processing of TUE applications, Results Management, monitoring and enforcing compliance with any Consequences imposed, and all other activities related to anti-doping to be carried out by or on behalf of an Anti-Doping Organisation, as set out in the Code and/or the International Standards;

"Anti-Doping Organisation" means WADA or a Signatory that is responsible for adopting rules for initiating, implementing or enforcing any part of the Doping Control process, which include but are not limited to the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, other Major Event Organisations that conduct Testing at their Events, International Federations, and National Anti-Doping Organisations;

"Athlete" means any Person who competes in sport at the international level (as defined by each International Federation) or the national level (as defined by each National Anti-Doping Organisation). NADOMALTA has discretion to apply anti-doping rules and regulations to an Athlete who is neither an International-Level Athlete nor a National-Level Athlete, and thus to bring them within the definition of "Athlete". In relation to Athletes who are neither International-Level nor National-Level Athletes, an Anti-Doping Organisation may elect to: conduct limited Testing or no Testing at all; analyse Samples for less than the full menu of Prohibited Substances; require limited or no whereabouts information; or not require advance TUEs. However, if an anti-doping rule violation under Regulation 2(1), (3) or (5) of the Schedule is committed by any Athlete over whom an Anti-Doping Organisation has elected to exercise its authority to test and who competes below the international or national level, then the Consequences set forth in the Schedule must be applied. For purposes of Regulation 2(8) and (9) of the Schedule and for purposes of anti-doping information and Education, any Person who participates in sport under the authority of any Signatory, government, or other sports Organisation accepting the Code is considered an Athlete;

"Athlete Biological Passport" means the program and methods of gathering and collating data as described in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations and International Standard for Laboratories;

"Athlete Support Personnel" means any coach, trainer, manager, agent, team staff, official, medical, paramedical personnel, parent or any other Person working with, treating or assisting an Athlete participating in or preparing for sports Competition;

"Attempt" means purposely engaging in conduct that constitutes a substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in the commission of an anti-doping rule violation:

Provided, however, there shall be no anti-doping rule violation based solely on an Attempt to commit a violation if the Person renounces the Attempt prior to it being discovered by a third party not involved in the Attempt;

"Atypical Finding" means a report from a WADA-accredited laboratory or other WADA-approved laboratory which requires further investigation as provided by the International Standard for Laboratories or related Technical Documents prior to the determination of an Adverse Analytical Finding;

"Atypical Passport Finding" means a report described as an Atypical Passport Finding as described in the applicable International Standards;

"CAS" means the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which currently has its seat in Lausanne, Switzerland;

"Code" means the World Anti-Doping Code first adopted by WADA on 5 March, 2003, and any other subsequent amendments;

"Competition" means a single race, match, game or singular sport contest. For stage races and other sport contests where prizes are awarded on a daily or other interim basis the distinction between a Competition and an Event will be as provided in the rules and regulations of the applicable International Federation;

"Consequences of Anti-Doping Rule Violations" or "Consequences" means an Athlete’s or other Person’s violation of an anti-doping rule which may result in one or more of the following:

(a) Disqualification;

(b) Ineligibility;

(c) Provisional Suspension;

(d) Financial Consequences; and

(e) Public Disclosure.

Teams in Team Sports may also be subject to Consequences as provided in Regulation 11 of the Schedule;

"Contaminated Product" means a product that contains a Prohibited Substance that is not disclosed on the product label or in information available in a reasonable Internet search;

"Decision Limit" means the value of the result for a threshold substance in a Sample, above which an Adverse Analytical Finding shall be reported, as defined in the International Standard for Laboratories;

"Delegated Third Party" means any Person to which an Anti-Doping Organization delegates any aspect of Doping Control or anti-doping Education programs including, but not limited to, third parties or other Anti-Doping Organisations that conduct Sample collection or other Doping Control services or anti-doping Educational programs for the Anti-Doping Organization, or individuals serving as independent contractors who perform Doping Control services for the Anti-Doping Organization (e.g. non-employee Doping Control officers or chaperones). This definition does not include the CAS;

"Disqualification" means the Athlete’s results in a particular Competition or Event are invalidated, with all resulting Consequences including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes;

"Doping" means the occurrence of one or more of the anti-doping rule violations set forth in Regulation 2 of the Schedule;

"Doping Control" means all steps and processes from test distribution planning through to ultimate disposition of any appeal and the enforcement of Consequences, including all steps and processes in between, including but not limited to, Testing, investigations, whereabouts, TUEs, Sample collection and handling, laboratory analysis, Results Management and investigations or proceedings relating to violations of Regulation 10(14) of the Schedule (Status During Ineligibility or Provisional Suspension);

"Education" means the process of learning to instill values and develop behaviours that foster and protect the spirit of sport, and to prevent intentional and unintentional doping;

"Event" means a series of individual Competitions conducted together under one ruling body;

"Event Period" means the time between the beginning and end of an Event, as established by the ruling body of the Event;

"Event Venues" means those venues so designated by the ruling body for the Event;

"Fault" means any breach of duty or any lack of care appropriate to a particular situation. Factors to be taken into consideration in assessing an Athlete’s or other Person’s degree of Fault include, the Athlete’s or other Person’s experience, whether the Athlete or other Person is a Protected Person, special considerations such as impairment, the degree of risk that should have been perceived by the Athlete and the level of care and investigation exercised by the Athlete in relation to what should have been the perceived level of risk. In assessing the Athlete’s or other Person’s degree of Fault, the circumstances considered must be specific and relevant to explain the Athlete’s or other Person’s departure from the expected standard of behaviour. However, the fact that an Athlete would lose the opportunity to earn large sums of money during a period of Ineligibility, or the fact that the Athlete only has a short time left in a career, or the timing of the sporting calendar, would not be relevant factors to be considered in reducing the period of Ineligibility under Regulation 10(6)(a) or (b) of the Schedule;

"Financial Consequences" means a financial sanction imposed for an anti-doping rule violation or to recover costs associated with an anti-doping rule violation;

"In-Competition" means the period commencing at 11:59 p.m. on the day before a Competition in which the Athlete is scheduled to participate through the end of such Competition and the Sample collection process related to such Competition:

Provided that, however, WADA may approve, for a particular sport, an alternative definition if an International Federation provides a compelling justification that a different definition is necessary for its sport; upon such approval by WADA, the alternative definition shall be followed by all Major Event Organisations for that particular sport;

"Independent Observer Program" means a team of observers and, or auditors, under the supervision of WADA, who observe and provide guidance on the Doping Control process prior to or during certain Events and report on their observations as part of WADA’s compliance monitoring program;

"Individual Sport" means any sport that is not a Team Sport; "Ineligibility" means the Athlete or other Person is barred on account of an anti-doping rule violation for a specified period of time from participating in any Competition or other activity or funding as provided in Regulation 10(14) of the Schedule;

"Institutional Independence" means hearing panels on appeal which shall be fully independent institutionally from the Anti-Doping Organisation responsible for Results Management. They must therefore not in any way be administered by, connected or subject to the Anti-Doping Organisation responsible for Results Management;

"International Event" means an Event or Competition where the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, an International Federation, a Major Event Organisation, or another International Sport Organisation is the ruling body for the Event or appoints the technical officials for the Event;

"International-Level Athlete" means Athletes who compete in sport at the international level, as defined by each International Federation, consistent with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations;

"International Standard" means a standard adopted by WADA in support of the Code. Compliance with an International Standard as opposed to another alternative standard, practice or procedure shall be sufficient to conclude that the procedures addressed by the International Standard were performed properly. International Standards shall include any Technical Documents issued pursuant to the International Standard.

"Major Event Organisations" means the continental associations of National Olympic Committees and other international multi-sport Organisations that function as the ruling body for any continental, regional or other International Event;

"Marker" means a compound, group of compounds or biological variable(s) that indicates the Use of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method;

"Metabolite" means any substance produced by a biotransformation process;

"Minimum Reporting Level" means the estimated concentration of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolite(s) or Marker(s) in a sample below which WADA-accredited laboratories should not report that Sample as an Adverse Analytical Finding;

"Minor" means natural Person who has not reached the age of eighteen (18) years;

"National Event" means a sport Event or Competition involving International-Level or National-Level Athletes that is not an International Event;

"NADAP" means the National Anti-Doping Appeals Panel appointed by the government to adjudicate on appeals from decisions of the national anti-doping disciplinary panel as established in Regulation 13 of the Schedule;

"NADDP" means the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel appointed by government to adjudicate on alleged violations of these regulations, unless the CAS is preferred;

"National Anti-Doping Organisation" means the entity or entities designated by each country as possessing the primary authority and responsibility to adopt and implement anti-doping regulations, direct the collection of samples, the management of test results, and the conduct of hearings, at the national level. For the purposes of these regulations, the NADOMALTA is the designated entity;

"National Sports Organisation" means a national Sports Organisation that is registered or recognised by SportMalta as the entity governing a particular sporting discipline in Malta, and is a member of or is recognized by an international federation as the entity governing the international federation’s sporting discipline in Malta;

"National-Level Athlete" means Athletes who compete in sport at the national level, as defined by each National Anti-Doping Organisation, consistent with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations;

"National Olympic Committee" means the Maltese Olympic Committee, recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the national Olympic committee in Malta;

"No Fault or Negligence” means the Athlete or other Person’s establishing that he did not know or suspect, and could not reasonably have known or suspected even with the exercise of utmost caution, that he had used or been administered the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method or otherwise violated an anti-doping rule. Except in the case of a Protected Person or Recreational Athlete, for any violation of Regulation 2(1) of the Schedule, the Athlete must also establish how the Prohibited Substance entered the Athlete’s system;

"No Significant Fault or Negligence” means the Athlete or other Person’s establishing that any Fault or Negligence, when viewed in the totality of the circumstances and taking into account the criteria for No Fault or Negligence, was not significant in relationship to the anti-doping rule violation. Except in the case of a Protected Person or Recreational Athlete, for any violation of Regulation 2(1) of the Schedule, the Athlete must also establish how the Prohibited Substance entered the Athlete’s system;

"Operational Independence" means that board members, staff members, commission members, consultants and officials of the Anti-Doping Organisation with responsibility for Results Management or its affiliates (e.g., member federation or confederation) as well as any Person involved in the investigation and pre-adjudication of the matter cannot be appointed as members and, or clerks (to the extent that such clerk is involved in the deliberation process and, or drafting of any decision) of hearing panels of that Anti-Doping Organisation with responsibility for Results Management and hearing panels shall be in a position to conduct the hearing and decision-making process without interference from the Anti-Doping Organisation or any third party. The objective is to ensure that members of the hearing panel or individuals otherwise involved in the decision of the hearing panel, are not involved in the investigation of, or decisions to proceed with, the case;

"Out-of-Competition" means any period which is not In-Competition;

"Participant" means any Athlete or Athlete Support Person;

"Person" means a natural Person or an Organisation or other entity;

"Possession" means the actual, physical Possession, or the constructive Possession (which shall be found only if the Person has exclusive control or intends to exercise control over the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method or the premises in which a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method exists):

Provided that, however, if the Person does not have exclusive control over the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method or the premises in which a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method exists, constructive Possession shall only be found if the person knew about the presence of the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method and intended to exercise control over it:

Provided further that there shall be no anti-doping rule violation based solely on Possession if, prior to receiving notification of any kind that the Person has committed an anti-doping rule violation, the Person has taken concrete action demonstrating that the Person never intended to have Possession and has renounced Possession by explicitly declaring it to an Anti-Doping Organisation. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this definition, the purchase (including by any electronic or other means) of a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method constitutes Possession by the Person who makes the purchase;

"Prohibited List" means the WADA list identifying the Prohibited Substances and the Prohibited Methods as amended from time to time;

"Prohibited Method" means any method so described on the Prohibited List;

"Prohibited Substance" means any substance, or class of substances, so described on the Prohibited List;

"Protected Person" means an Athlete or other natural Person who at the time of the anti-doping rule violation:

(a) has not reached the age of sixteen (16) years;

(b) has not reached the age of eighteen (18) years and is not included in any Registered Testing Pool and has never competed in any International Event in an open category; or

(c) for reasons other than age, has been determined to lack legal capacity under the applicable national legislation;

"Provisional Hearing" means an expedited abbreviated hearing occurring prior to a hearing under Regulation 8 of the Schedule that provides the Athlete with notice and an opportunity to be heard in either written or oral form;

"Provisional Suspension" means the Athlete or other Person is barred temporarily from participating in any Competition or activity prior to the final decision at a hearing conducted under Regulation 8 of the Schedule;

"Public Disclosure" means the dissemination or distribution of information to the general public or Persons beyond those Persons entitled to earlier notification in accordance with Regulation 14 of the Schedule;

"Recreational Athlete" means any Person who engages or participates in sport or fitness activities for recreational purposes but who would not otherwise compete in Competitions or Events organized, recognized, or hosted by a National Sports Organisation, or by any affiliated or non-affiliated association, Organisation, club, team, or league and who, within the five (5) years prior to committing any anti-doping rule violation, has not been an International-Level Athlete (as defined by each International Federation consistent with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations) or National-Level Athlete (as defined by NADOMALTA or other National Anti-Doping Organisation consistent with the International Standard for Testing and Investigations); has not represented Malta or any other country in an International Event in an open category; or has not been included within any Registered Testing Pool or other whereabouts information pool maintained by any International Federation, NADOMALTA or other National Anti-Doping Organisation;

"Registered Testing Pool" means the pool of highest-priority Athletes established separately at the international level by International Federations and at the national level by National Anti-Doping Organisations, who are subject to focused In-Competition and Out-of-Competition Testing as part of that International Federation’s or National Anti-Doping Organisation’s test distribution plan and therefore are required to provide whereabouts information as set forth in Article 5(5) of the International Standard for Testing and Investigations;

"Results Management" means the process encompassing the timeframe between notification in accordance with Article 5 of the International Standard for Results Management, or in certain cases, such pre-notification steps expressly provided for in Article 5 of the International Standard for Results Management, through the charge until the final resolution of the matter, including the end of the hearing process at first instance or on appeal (if an appeal was lodged);

"Sample or Specimen" means any biological material collected for the purposes of Doping Control;

"Signatories" means those entities accepting the Code and agreeing to implement the Code;

"Specified Method" shall have the same meaning as that given under Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Schedule;

"specified substance" shall have the same meaning as that given under Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Schedule;

"SportMalta" shall have the same meaning as that established in article 4 of the Sports Act;

"Strict Liability" means the rule which provides that under Regulation 2(1) and (2) of the Schedule, it is not necessary that intent, Fault, Negligence, or knowing Use on the Athlete’s part be demonstrated by the Anti-Doping Organisation in order to establish an anti-doping rule violation;

"Substance of Abuse" shall have the same meaning as that given under Regulation 4(2)(c) of the Schedule;

"Substantial Assistance" means a Person providing Substantial Assistance that fully disclosed in a signed written statement or recorded interview all information he possesses in relation to anti-doping rule violations or other proceeding described in Regulation 10(7)(a)(i) of the Schedule, and shall fully cooperate with the investigation and adjudication of any case or matter related to that information, including, presenting testimony at a hearing if requested to do so by an Anti-Doping Organisation or hearing panel. Further, the information provided must be credible and must comprise an important part of any case or proceeding which is initiated or, if no case or proceeding is initiated, must have provided a sufficient basis on which a case or proceeding could have been brought;

"Tampering" means intentional conduct which subverts the Doping Control process but which would not otherwise be included in the definition of Prohibited Methods. Tampering shall include, without limitation, offering or accepting a bribe to perform or fail to perform an act, preventing the collection of a Sample, affecting or making impossible the analysis of a Sample, falsifying documents submitted to an Anti-Doping Organisation or TUE committee or hearing panel, procuring false testimony from witnesses, committing any other fraudulent act upon the Anti-Doping Organisation or hearing body to affect Results Management or the imposition of Consequences, and any other similar intentional interference or Attempted interference with any aspect of Doping Control;

"Target Testing" means selection of specific athletes for testing based on criteria set forth in the International Standard for Testing and Investigations;

"Team Sport" means a sport in which the substitution of players is permitted during a Competition;

"Technical Document" means a document adopted and published by WADA from time to time containing mandatory technical requirements on specific anti-doping topics as set forth in an International Standard;

"Testing" means the parts of the Doping Control process involving test distribution planning, Sample collection, Sample handling, and Sample transport to the laboratory;

"Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)" means an exemption that allows an Athlete with a medical condition to Use a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method, but only if the conditions set out in Regulation 4(4) of the Schedule and the International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions are met;

"Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee" ("TUEC") means the panel to consider applications for the grant of TUEs;

"Trafficking" means selling, giving, transporting, sending, delivering or distributing (or Possessing for any such purpose) a Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method (either physically or by any electronic or other means) by an Athlete, Athlete Support Person or any other Person subject to the authority of an Anti-Doping Organisation to any third party; provided, however, this definition shall not include the actions of medical personnel involving bona fide a Prohibited Substance Used for genuine and legal therapeutic purposes or other acceptable justification, and shall not include actions involving Prohibited Substances which are not prohibited in Out-of-Competition Testing unless the circumstances as a whole demonstrate such Prohibited Substances are not intended for genuine and legal therapeutic purposes or are intended to enhance sport performance;

"UNESCO Convention" means the International Convention against Doping in Sport adopted by the UNESCO General Conference held on 19 October 2005, including any and all amendments adopted by the States Parties to the Convention and the Conference of Parties to the International Convention against Doping in Sport;

"Use" means the utilization, application, ingestion, injection or consumption by any means whatsoever of any Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method;

"WADA" means the World Anti-Doping Agency;

"Without Prejudice Agreement" means a written agreement between an Anti-Doping Organisation and an Athlete or other Person that allows the Athlete or other Person to provide information to the Anti-Doping Organisation in a defined time-limited setting with the understanding that, if an agreement for Substantial Assistance or a case resolution agreement is not finalized, the information provided by the Athlete or other Person in this particular setting may not be used by the Anti-Doping Organisation against the Athlete or other Person in any Results Management proceeding under the Code, and that the information provided by the Anti-Doping Organisation in this particular setting may not be used by the Athlete or other Person against the Anti-Doping Organisation in any Results Management proceeding under the Code. Such an agreement shall not preclude the Anti-Doping Organisation, Athlete or other Person from using any information or evidence gathered from any source other than during the specific time-limited setting described in the agreement.