Status of the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020

In a letter to all Members of the [link id=”335″ tax=”post_tag” text=”International Olympic Committee (IOC)”], the IOC Ethics Commission has communicated the indemnity policy for IOC Members.

The Commission recommended that the IOC make this decision public now and not to wait until the publication of the IOC’s annual report as proposed by recommendation 29 of the Olympic Agenda 2020.

This publication is only one of the many measures regarding transparency and compliance in Olympic Agenda 2020 that have already been implemented.

The IOC has appointed Pâquerette Girard Zappelli for the newly created position of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer in the IOC administration (Recommendation 31).

At the same time the IOC has appointed Will Keenan as Chief Internal Audit Officer. With these new positions the IOC is now addressing the issues of good governance by having all the regulations and positions in place with a Chief Internal Audit Officer, an Audit Committee separated from the Finance Commission, the position of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and the Ethics Commission.

Furthermore the IOC upon its specific request will be audited externally according to the enhanced International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), even though these higher standards are legally not required.

In addition the Ethics Commission has reviewed its Code of Ethics according to the Olympic Agenda 2020 (Recommendation 32).

Other Olympic Agenda 2020 recommendations already implemented include:

1. The introduction of an Invitation Phase in the bidding process as from 15 January 2015. (Recommendation 1)
2. The Evaluation Commission for the Olympic Winter Games 2022 is assessing key opportunities and risks. (Recommendation 2)
3. Measures to reduce the costs of bidding already applied to the 2022 bidding process. (Recommendation 3)
4. Savings of USD 1 billion in the Tokyo revised budget with three venue changes making the Olympic Games in Tokyo more sustainable and more feasible. (Recommendation 4)
5. The procedures for the proposal of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 concerning the addition of one or several events have been established and the timeline has been set for 15 September 2015. (Recommendation 10)
6. The role of the International Sports Federations for the delivery of the Olympic competitions has been enhanced already for the Olympic Games from 2016 on. (Recommendation 13)
7. The IOC has already included non-discrimination on sexual orientation in the 6th Fundamental Principle of Olympism. (Recommendation 14)
8. The IOC has set a special fund of USD 20 million with regard to better protection of the clean athletes. Three projects supporting innovative research have already been approved for funding out of the USD 10 million portion created for this purpose. Twelve governments have promised to contribute an additional USD 5.9 million. A prevention programme for the fight against match fixing and related corruption is under way in cooperation with INTERPOL and financed out of the other USD 10 million portion by the IOC. (Recommendation 16)
9. Organisation of the International Forum for Sports Integrity (IFSI) on 13 April 2015 with the participation of governments, INTERPOL, Europol, EU Council of Europe, UN agencies, sports betting entities, Olympic stakeholders and others. (Recommendation 16)
10. Approval of the organisational and management structure of the Olympic Channel with the creation of the Olympic Channel Services (OCS) S.A. in Switzerland with a funding capital of CHF 1 million. Hiring of key management positions on the channel is underway. (Recommendation 19)
11. The IOC has started close cooperation with NGOs. Meetings have been taken place and contacts have been made with different organisations including: The International Trade Union Confederation, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch, The Committee to Protect Journalists (Recommendation 20)
12. Meetings have been held with UNESCO and a new UNESCO charter on Physical Education and Physical Activity and Sport is under way stressing the importance of physical activity in sport and education. (Recommendation 22)
13. A summit with the TOP Partners has been held in order to integrate them into “Olympism in Action” programmes and the Olympic Channel. (Recommendation 33) Furthermore the meeting advanced the engagement of the TOP partners with the National Olympic Committees. (Recommendation 35)
14. The first IOC “Olympism in Action” Congress will take place in 2017 in Lima, Peru. (Recommendation 39)
15. The IOC Executive Board has approved the working plan for the implementation of the other recommendations of the Olympic Agenda 2020.