Summer Sports Watchdog Steps Up Good Governance Initiative

(ATR) Scandal-hit FIFA and the IAAF are being asked to comply with a new set of best-practice governance principles.

The ASOIF Council, umbrella body of the 28 summer sports federations, approved governance principles and indicators for IFs at its meeting in Lausanne on Friday.

The new assessment mechanism, tailored to the specific characteristics and needs of sport organizations, was put forward by the ASOIF Governance Task Force, which was set up in November as corruption and doping scandals engulfed FIFA and the IAAF.

It sets out five key principles of transparency, integrity, democracy, sport development and solidarity, and control mechanisms.

ASOIF leaders want each of these principles to be implemented by IFs through 10 simple and measurable indicators. They are based on a system developed by JeanLoup Chappelet, professor at IDHEAP Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne. He is also a task force member.

Francesco Ricci Bitti, ASOIF president and chair of the governance committee, said: "We are convinced that all international federations are in a position to embrace and implement the principles and indicators put forward by the task Force.

"They are practical, flexible and offer a very useful check list. As better governance is an ongoing process, regular reviews and improvements will be important. Accordingly, some of the indicators are likely to further evolve with time and new, more sophisticated ones may be added," he added.

Ricci Bitti hopes the governance principles and indicators will be formally approved by the 28 summer sports at the ASOIF general assembly in Lausanne on April 19.

Through 2016, the task force would aim to offer support in assessing the current state of governance across the 28 Olympic IFs.

ASOIF’s anti-doping task force has also made further strides towards the creation of an independent body for drug testing backed by IOC president Thomas Bach.

Also set up in November, it is now in a position to research the current anti-doping activities and processes of all ASOIF members; related expenditure; and the IF practices surrounding the athletes’ health and safety.

A questionnaire will be sent to all summer Olympic IFs this week.

The study will be both quantitative and qualitative and based on 2015 figures. ASOIF has mandated PriceWaterhouseCoopers to collect the data independently.

The results are expected to deliver valuable input to ongoing discussions about the potential creation of an independent body for testing, which is being explored by WADA.

ASOIF will hold its next council meeting on April 17 in Lausanne in conjunction with its annual assembly.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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