2027 International Standard for Results Management (ISRM) - In Force on 1 January 2027

About the January 2027 editionChanges from the 2023 edition

This edition was approved by the WADA Executive Committee on 5 December 2025 and applies from 1 January 2027. The revision is extensive compared with the previous edition: a new article has been added, and the articles on provisional suspension, notification and hearings, together with two annexes, have been rewritten.

Key changes from the previous edition

1. Independent Review Expert (Article 5.5)In the rare cases where, following the initial review of an adverse analytical finding, the Results Management Authority intends to close the case or depart from the ordinary route, it must seek the opinion of the Independent Review Expert (Article 7.8 of the Code). The Expert gives a written opinion within 20 days of receiving the complete file; the authority's decision is thereafter appealable directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
2. Responsibility for results managementArticle 4.1 is new: jurisdiction over results management is referred to Article 7.1 of the Code, and the commentary to it states that results management must not be delegated to a third-party agent that creates an actual or potential conflict of interest.
3. Notification and admission of the violationIn the notice, the athlete must be informed of the possibility of admitting the violation and its consequences, and of providing Substantial Assistance or other valuable information and assistance (Articles 10.7.2 to 10.7.4 of the Code); the deadline for an explanation is set as "short"; and in cases without an adverse analytical finding (Article 5.3), delaying or withholding notification is possible only with WADA's written agreement (5.3.2.4).
4. 20-day deadline for the B sampleIf the athlete and their representative are not available on the alternative dates, or if agreement is not reached on all points within 20 days of the request for analysis of the B sample, the laboratory proceeds with an independent witness (5.1.2.8). The athlete cannot postpone the B sample request by waiting for the laboratory documentation package.
5. Provisional suspension and the application to lift itArticle 6 has been rewritten. For a mandatory provisional suspension, before appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport the athlete must apply to the Results Management Authority (and, in some systems, to the hearing panel under Article 8) to have it lifted; the optional provisional suspension also has a separate article (6.1.1 to 6.1.2).
6. Charge and hearingThe 20-day deadline following the charge now has two routes: admitting the violation with its consequences, or requesting a hearing (7.1). The single hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport has been extended to the violation of participating while ineligible as well, and WADA may, if it objects, refer the case back to the authority's first-instance panel (7.6). The hearing panel must consist of one arbitrator or three members, and reasonable accommodations must be made for athletes with a disability; the deadline for issuing the decision is two months, and serious or repeated breach of it may carry a compliance consequence for the authority (8).
7. Annexes B and CIn Annex B, the "administrative review" stage for a failure to file or a missed test at the declared location has been removed: the athlete responds to the notice; the recording of a whereabouts failure is not appealable; and every recorded failure is examined again and afresh in the charge under Article 2.4 of the Code. In Annex C, the three-member panel of Athlete Biological Passport experts has become the first expert plus two further experts, and in the absence of consensus the Passport may still be used, together with other evidence, to establish Use.