China progress key changes to sports law, anti-doping regulation

The Chinese government is close to adopting several legislative changes to its state anti-doping, sports arbitration and athlete's rights regime, according to a draft review presented to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ('NPC'), China's primary legislator.

The proposed amendments to the country's Law on Physical Culture and Sports, will be the law's first amendments in 20 years and were first floated to the NPC last October. This week, the amendments have returned to the NPC for the second reading speech.

The laws propose a strengthening of China's anti-doping regime, including implementing a national anti-doping agency with broader investigative and enforcement powers. The laws also seek to strengthen the relationship between anti-doping authorities and Chinese law enforcement. This includes a greater possibility of criminal penalties against drug cheats and those supplying banned drugs to athletes.

Since 2007, anti-doping in China has been regulated by the WADA compliant China Anti-Doping Agency ('CHINADA').

The amendments also provide a chapter on sports arbitration regulation which seeks a more established legislative grounding and legal system for the many sporting disputes that are currently referred to arbitration under Chinese law.

In a series of quotes provided to English language Chinese media, the Executive Vice President of the China Society of Studies on Sports Law, Mr Tian Siyuan, said, "this revision to the Law is a relatively comprehensive and thorough one."

However, critics of the amendments believe the long-awaited reform to the Chinese sports law fails to address the significant changes to the industry that have occurred over the last 20 years.

"The law can hardly meet the rapid economic and social development seen over the past two decades. The practice of sports reforms requires an up-to-date revision of the law," said He Yiting, Chairperson of the NPC's Social Development Affairs Committee.

"The rights and obligations of various sports entities need to be further clarified, conflicts between sports law and other laws need to be solved," noted He.

"In addition, the preparation issues for international events such as Beijing 2022 Winter Games are in need of legal support, and legal supervision is required to monitor the increasing number of commercial sporting events."

China has been criticised on multiple fronts concerning their human rights abuses and their interaction with sport, particularly earlier this year with the treatment of professional Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai and the country's hosting of the Winter Olympics.

Chinese laws are considered opaque by commentators in the west. However, as a sporting and economic power, there will be interest within the sports law and human rights spaces globally about the implementation and effectiveness of the currently proposed changes in China.

It is expected a further legislative timetable for the draft amendments will be made available soon.