(ATR) Brazilian Anti-Doping Agency (ABCD) national secretary Marco Aurelio Klein tells Around the Rings it is an "extraordinary day in the fight for clean sport" in Brazil.
On March 17 the new Brazilian anti-doping code went into effect putting the country in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency code. A Presidential order approved the code on the same day, and addressed changes to the law that allow the creation of the new independent sports court that will handle anti-doping cases.
Klein expects no further issues with Brazil and WADA in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Even though the legislature has not voted on changes to the law the Presidential order issued today puts them into effect immediately. The Brazilian legislature now has 120 days to vote on the changes made, although this is expected to be a formality.
"As you know, we have a political crisis at this moment, and in the middle of this we achieved [compliance]," Klein said to ATR.
"It was not easy, but we achieved it because all of the people involved were very focused and committed to do so. We will have all the tools to work on this and achieve full compliance with all the international test practices and everything demanded by WADA."
On Nov. 18, WADA placed Brazil and five other countries on a compliance "watch list," meaning the country had 120 days to adopt new standards that are in line with the WADA code.
For Brazil this represented a challenge because government officials have a summer vacation in January and during the annual Carnaval festival in February, limiting the amount of working days ahead of the March deadline. Klein estimated the Brazil had less than 50 working days to draft the new code during the 120 day period.
WADA officials traveled to Brazil in early February to meet with sport federations, government officials, and the ABCD to draft a new anti-doping code. The code was drafted in English and fully approved by WADA, after which Brazilian officials worked hard to rewrite the code in Portuguese.
"We had to make sure it made sense in the Brazilian way to write code, laws, and official documents," Klein added. "The content of the code is fully approved by WADA."
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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