Athlete Privacy Policy

Introduction  

Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) collects personal information from athletes and other persons where this information is necessary and appropriate to conduct its anti-doping activities under the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and Sports Anti-Doping Act 2006 (Sports Anti-Doping Act).  

This Privacy Policy records how DFSNZ (including its employees and contractors) processes and protects Personal Information, in accordance with legislative and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) requirements, in particular the Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Act) and the International Standard Protection of Privacy and Personal Information 2021 (ISPPPI).  

Authority for collecting information  

Collection of personal information is authorised under the Sports Anti-Doping Act, the Code and Sports Anti-Doping Rules. Such authorisation includes the collection of personal information from Athletes who are children or young people. In some instances, supply of the information is mandatory, for instance: 

• Supply of whereabouts information by the Athlete is mandatory under New Zealand’s Sports Anti-Doping Rules. Failure to supply the information may result in the athlete committing an anti-doping rule violation. 
• Supply of personal information is necessary for an athlete to obtain a Therapeutic Use exemption. Failure to supply necessary personal information is likely to result in an application being declined.   

Personal Information  

Personal Information is any information about an identifiable individual, and includes:  

• Identity information (name, birth date, contact information, sporting affiliations, gender, sport and performance data, level of competition);  
• Doping Control Information (sample collection, laboratory analysis, anti-doping test results, investigations and results management, disciplinary hearings, appeals and sanctions); 
• Athlete Biological Passport Data;  
• Education completion information;  

• Therapeutic Use applications and exemptions;  
• Whereabouts information (competition locations, travel locations, regular activity venues); and  
• Personal details and contact information relating to other persons, such as medical professionals and others working with, treating or assisting an athlete in the context of anti-doping activities. 

Sensitive Personal Information is Personal Information relating to an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, commission of offences (criminal or otherwise), health (including information derived from analysing an athlete’s samples or specimens, medication information), and biometric and genetic information.  Sensitive Personal Information will only be processed with an Athlete’s express consent.  

Purpose of Collection  

Personal Information is collected by DFSNZ for the purpose of performing our anti-doping activities. These activities include collecting whereabouts information, conducting testing, performing results management, determining whether use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method is limited to a legitimate and documented therapeutic purpose, educating participants on their rights and responsibilities, conducting investigations related to potential anti-doping violations and initiating legal proceedings against persons who are alleged to have committed anti-doping rule violations. Personal Information collected will only be used for anti-doping purposes and DFSNZ will process only the Personal Information relevant and necessary for the specific activity. 

In some circumstances (e.g., sample collection) a refusal to provide the Personal Information required by DFSNZ, will amount to an anti-doping violation (e.g., evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection), which may impact your ability to compete in your sport (in accordance with the provisions of the Sports Anti-Doping Rules) and may amount to a violation of the code and could invalidate competition results.  

In limited circumstances (e.g., to conduct proceedings involving suspected anti-doping violations), DFSNZ may process personal information event though an Athlete has refused to grant (or has withdrawn) consent for DFSNZ to process their Personal Information. 

Collection of Personal Information  

Personal Information collected by DFSNZ will be collected in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act and the ISPPPI, including from:   

• Athletes directly;  
• Publicly available sources; and/or 
• Third parties (with the athlete’s consent or otherwise in compliance with the Privacy Act and the ISPPPI).  

Specific examples of sources of Personal Information include:  

• The Athlete Whereabouts Programme; 

• Therapeutic Use Exemption applications; 
• Online / Phone Supplement Checks; 
• Testing programmes; 
• Sample collection; 
• Sports Anti-doping educational activities; 

• Surveys and quizzes; 
• Third party providers (including other Anti-Doping Organisations); 
• Learning Management System records; and 
• The Speak Out programme.  

Information obtained through use of website 

In addition, DFSNZ may collect personal information through use of its website. If you log your details for any services on www.drugfreesport.org.nz, we may ask for your name, postal address, e-mail address and role in sport (e.g., athlete, coach, NSO etc.). Information collected through the website will be used for DFSNZ’s anti-doping activities including allowing us to process your request and provide you with the best possible service. The information you provide may be used by us, our agents or sub-contractors to communicate with you on any matter relating to the conduct of your account and the provision of our services in general. 

We may use information and statistics for the purposes of monitoring website use in order to help us develop our website and our services.  However, this information will not include anything that could be used to identify an individual. 

We may wish to provide you with information which could be relevant to you by the way of e-newsletters.  If you do not wish to receive these, please click unsubscribe in the e-newsletter. 
 
We may contact you about specific matters which we believe may be of use to you directly by email.  If you do not wish to receive these intermittent updates, please send an email to info@drugfreesport.org.nz to us with the word unsubscribe in the heading and your name. 

Disclosure of Personal Information  

Personal information collected by DFSNZ may be shared with WADA (including on the WADA Anti-Doping Administration & Management System (ADAMS)), other Anti-Doping Organisations or sample collection agencies, International Federations and National Sports Organisations, the New Zealand Olympic Committee or Paralympics New Zealand in accordance with the Code for anti-doping purposes (including in relation to our anti-doping education programs). The information may also be provided to other agencies if required by law.  

DFSNZ may also share your Personal Information with Third Party Agents, including service providers, in connection with performing our anti-doping activities.  

Public disclosure of Personal Information may occur where required under New Zealand’s Sports-Anti Doping Rules. New Zealand’s Sports’ Anti-Doping Rules require DFSNZ to publicly report the final outcome of anti-doping proceedings where an anti-doping violation is found to have been committed – in most cases.   

DFSNZ ensures that where Personal Information is disclosed to any third party, any such disclosure complies with the requirements of the ISPPPI and the Privacy Act (including specific requirements in circumstances where Personal Information is disclosed to a party outside of New Zealand) and that the appropriate security measures are in place to protect your Personal Information.   

Protecting your Personal Information 

We appreciate the sensitive and confidential nature of the Personal Information we collect at DFSNZ and we have put in place various security measures to ensure Personal Information collected by us is as safe as possible. 

We operate and protect our systems with the use of, but not limited to, firewalls, limited access to information, use of passwords and encryption and such other technologies to help keep information private and secure. The internal procedures of DFSNZ cover the storage, access, disclosure, retention and destruction of your information, to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act and the ISPPPI (including where Personal Information is disclosed to a third party).  

We use secure databases known as SIMON, RATA, ADAMS and ServiceNow to store your Personal Information and share that information in accordance with the requirements of the Sports Anti-Doping Act 2006 and the Code. These databases also act to provide additional security to your Personal Information.  

In the case of any security or privacy breach, DFSNZ’s Security Incident Response Plan will be implemented to contain and address any breach, and affected individuals will be notified.  

Retention of Personal Information  

Personal information will only be retained where it remains relevant to fulfilling DFSNZ’s obligations under the Code or as required by other legislation. It will be retained for the periods of time as set out in Annex A to the ISPPPI or other relevant legislation. 

Once Personal Information no longer serves the above purposes, it will be deleted, destroyed, or permanently anonymised.  

Rights of access and correction 

Athletes have rights (pursuant to the Privacy Act and the ISPPPI) of access to, and correction of, Personal Information, and can request that DFSNZ deletes or restricts processing of Personal Information.   

Any request should be submitted to DFSNZ’s Privacy Officer (see contact details below).  

Complaints Process  

If an Athlete is concerned that their Personal Information is not being processed in accordance with legislation or the ISPPPI, concerns can be raised directly with DFSNZ’s Privacy Officer (see contact details below).  

In circumstances where concerns raised with DFSNZ have not been satisfactorily resolved, athletes are also able to file a complaint with WADA or the Privacy Commissioner (further information can be found at https://www.privacy.org.nz/).  

DFSNZ Privacy Officer Contact Details 

DFSNZ’s Privacy Officer can be contacted:  

• By phone on 0800 DRUG FREE (378 437); or 
• By email at privacy@drugfreesport.org.nz. 

We welcome your views about our website and our Athlete Privacy Policy. If you would like to contact us with any queries or comments, please send an e-mail to the DFSNZ Privacy Officer. 

Transparency Statement: Information Gathering by Drug Free Sport NZ

This Transparency Statement explains how Drug Free Sport NZ collects, uses and shares information gathered about athletes for the purpose of investigating compliance with and implementing the World Anti-Doping Code.

We take care to exercise our information gathering powers lawfully and appropriately, in order to meet our obligations under the Sports Anti-Doping Act 2006, the Privacy Act 2020, the State Services Commission Information-Gathering Model Standards and any relevant Drug Free Sport NZ policies and procedures at all times.

What information is covered by this statement, and why do we collect it?

This section explains how we collect, use and share information when we are carrying out our investigations and testing functions under s 12 of the Act, and the Sports Anti-Doping Rules. We are required under the Act to protect athletes’ fundamental right to participate in doping-free sport, promoting health, fairness and equality. To help protect the integrity and reputation of sport in New Zealand, we gather information which we consider to be important in investigating an athlete’s potential breach of the Code and the Rules. 

We collect information via a testing programme, where the samples taken from the tests are monitored for biomarkers of doping that may indirectly reveal the effects of performance enhancing drugs or methods.  

We are required to protect such information and only disclose it where legally permitted and where necessary to give effect to our legislative responsibilities.

This statement applies to information gathered by us, our contractors, or any third parties engaged by us.

Information collected directly

Most of the information we obtain is provided directly to us by people or entities, or to authorised representatives such as our external consultants, as required to fulfil our statutory obligations. 

Where we are investigating potential compliance breaches brought to our attention, or initiating our own investigations into potential breaches of the Code and/or Rules, we may also gather information ourselves directly from people or entities using our statutory powers. 

Information collected from another person or agency

In some cases we may receive or request information from other people or agencies.  Such information will be gathered in compliance with our statutory powers and in compliance with the relevant legislation and any information sharing and matching agreements, memoranda of understanding (MOUs) or similar arrangements.  We will take all practicable steps to verify information received from third parties.

Collection by third parties

Where information gathering requires specialist capability that we do not have within our organisation, we may engage a third party to collect information for us.  Such information gathering is subject to standard legal limits relating to privacy, search and surveillance, access to private property, and the privacy/security by individuals, among other things.

Any information gathering, including by any relevant third parties, must be approved according to our internal authorisation process and must be in line with our obligations under the Act, the Privacy Act 2020, the State Services Commission Information-Gathering Model Standards and any relevant Drug Free Sport NZ policies and procedures at all times.

How we use your information

We collect information to fulfil our legislative functions, including to investigate potential breaches of the Code and/or the Rules. Where we identify the need to use the information to further investigate a potential rule violation, we will only do so if required or permitted by law. 

When we share your information

We may share information with third parties where necessary to carry out our statutory functions. Information is shared only in accordance with relevant statutory powers and in compliance with our relevant legal obligations, and any information sharing agreements, MOUs with other agencies, and our own internal policies.

We may share information with third parties when we are considering and investigating compliance breaches, complaints, and initiating our own investigations or inquiries. We will take all practicable steps to verify information provided to third parties.

We may, for example, share information with:

• other regulatory agencies, where sharing may be necessary to assist that regulatory agency to carry out its statutory functions;
• the other party to an investigation, oversight agency, or complaints body;
• third parties engaged by us to collect information as outlined above;
• the Police or another government agency, if required or allowed by law (for example, to assist with the investigation of a criminal offence, or contravention of the law; or to report significant misconduct or breach of duty or where there is a serious threat to health or safety.  If our staff are threatened or abused, we may refer this to the Police.

We will also share information with third parties if we are required to do so by law.  

How will we protect your information?

Information is stored and retained in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Information Security Policy, and in compliance with the Privacy Act 2020 and the Public Records Act 2005.

Enquiries and complaints

If you have any enquiries about our information gathering activities, or believe we have not acted lawfully or have acted inconsistently with the State Services Commission Code of Conduct in gathering information, you can contact us here.