Our history

The Polish Anti-Doping Agency was established on 1 July 2017. Previously, the Commission Against Doping in Sport, which operated under various names since 1988, was responsible for combatting doping in Polish sports.

The Act on Physical Culture of 3 June 1984 prohibited the use of pharmacological agents and other doping substances in sport. On 16 November 1989, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs signed the Anti-Doping Convention of the Council of Europe. The Convention was ratified on 3 July 1990 by the President of the Republic of Poland. The Convention is a comprehensive international agreement aimed at combating the use of prohibited substances and methods by athletes. The signing and ratification of the Convention means that the government of Poland has assumed responsibility for combating doping in our country.

The establishment of the anti-doping system in Poland included the appointment, in 1988, of the Anti-Doping Commission. From 1991 to 1993 the body was known as the Council on Combating Doping in Sport, and finally, in 1993, it was renamed the Commission against Doping in Sport.

In December 1995, the Social and Political Committee of the Council of Ministers adopted the National Program for Combating Doping in Sport. Based on the Anti-Doping Convention of the Council of Europe, the Olympic Charter of the IOC and Polish legislation, the Program focuses on education, doping control and sanctions enforcement by Polish sports federations.

The Act on Competitive Sports, which superseded the provisions of the Act on Physical Culture in the field of combating doping in sport, went into effect in 2005. The new legislation changed the organizational structure of the Commission Against Doping in Sport. A milestone in global anti-doping efforts was the establishment of the UNESCO Anti-Doping Convention which was ratified by Poland in 2007. Under the Convention, the International Standard – the List of Prohibited Substances and Methods and the International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions, that constitute integral parts of the World Anti-Doping Code, became binding law in Poland.

In 2010, the Act on Sport entered into force. The Act changed the definition of doping in respect of perpetrators, and penalizes the administration of prohibited substances to persons preparing for or participating in sports competitions.