Extraterritoriality of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act and Its Impact on the Anti-Doping Regulatory System

Abstract

The paper examines the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (Rodchenkov Act) and its impact on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA has a dominant status in the field of anti-doping regulation in sport and builds relationships with other actors in sport based on a hierarchy. Maintaining WADA’s status as the primary regulator and coordinator of anti-doping activities in sport appears necessary for the further effective development of anti-doping policy and maintaining parity between States in matters of anti-doping activities. However, extraterritorial application of the Rodchenkov Act challenges WADA’s position as the universal and exclusive entity responsible for coordinating the fight against doping in sport, and, therefore, this poses threats to the harmonized governance model of the anti-doping system by States. The paper examines the legal aspects of the Rodchenkov Act, its impact on the anti-doping regulatory system and the feasibility of introducing the extra-territorial principle of operation. The authors also analyze the first investigation under the Rodchenkov Act carried out in 2022 and the future prospects of its application. The authors focus on examination of permissibility of extraterritorial provisions of the Rodchenkov Act and the possible implications for the anti-doping system if the Rodchenkov Act is applied extraterritorially.