Latest news from IPACS
With an action-packed summer for IPACS coming to an end, here is an overview of the key activities and achievements from the last few months.
New Partners
Recently, IPACS welcomed several new partners, including the governments of Gambia, India and Jamaica; the Hellenic Olympic Committee; the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka; the International Biathlon Union; the International Table Tennis Federation; the International Federation for Sports Officials; and the International Olympic Academy. The Partnership’s expansion demonstrates the growing interest in its unique platform, which brings together governments, sports organisations and intergovernmental organisations with the shared aim of preventing and addressing corruption in sport.
Good governance workshops
In June, the IOC kicked off a new series of good governance workshops aimed at IOC-recognised sports organisations. Held online, the series follows on from last year’s webinar series for the same audience, which focused on the different dimensions of the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark. This year, the approach is more practice-oriented. Read more about the new series and its first edition, which focused on securing internal buy-in for good governance measures.
Engaging with stakeholders in Greece
In late June, a half-day workshop brought together more than 40 representatives from the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) and Greek sports federations to make them familiar with IPACS, its mission and the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark. The participants were welcomed by HOC Secretary General and Olympian Stefanos Chandakas, and the Secretary General of Sport of the Hellenic Republic, George Mavrotas, before learning about the Benchmark’s five dimensions of transparency, integrity, democracy, development and solidarity, and checks and balances/control mechanisms, with special focus on the last of these. During interactive sessions, participants also exchanged experiences about good governance measures already implemented within their own organisations, lessons learnt and best practices. Held in the HOC headquarters, the highly successful meeting was co-organised by the IOC and the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) of the Council of Europe, with the support of the Greek Sports Ministry.
Forward-thinking discussions
Several IPACS bodies met in June and July to keep driving progress. The Good Governance Task Force met for the second time this year to discuss the draft handbook version of the IPACS Sport Governance Benchmark, and is on track to launch the final version at the IPACS Annual General Conference on 23 October.
The IPACS Artificial Intelligence (AI) Working Group, which held its inaugural meetings this February, convened to discuss the outcomes of a questionnaire on AI and corruption in sport, and brainstorm next steps based on the results. Read more about these meetings here.
Latest Steering Committee meeting
The latest meeting of the IPACS Steering Committee took place on 10 September in London, United Kingdom. Hosted by the City of London and UK Sport in London’s Guildhall, the gathering was led by the government of Switzerland (currently chairing the Steering Committee) and yielded several outcomes. These include consideration of the new terms of reference for the Cooperation Task Force; discussions about longer-term strategic goals; and preparations for the IPACS Annual General Conference and the 5th International Forum for Sports Integrity (IFSI), which will both take place in October.
After this meeting, the IPACS Cooperation Task Force, chaired by the UNODC and the IOC, met to review the draft Guide on the Prosecution of Bribery in Sport, which is scheduled to be published by the end of the year.
What’s next?
A webinar for members of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) will take place on 26 September. On the agenda: tackling sports corruption through cooperation between sports organisations and prosecutors. The objective is to provide IAP members with an overview of the current state of corruption in sport, including the most common forms it takes and the impact of organised crime. It will also introduce members to IPACS. The IAP involves more than 140 prosecuting agencies with members from around 170 countries and jurisdictions.
The 2025 IPACS Annual General Conference will take place on 23 October in Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, ahead of the 5th IFSI the following day.