A guide to strengthening integrity in sports

AFNOR Spec S50-020, a French reference document, is a practical guide designed to strengthen the integrity of sport and the good governance of sports organizations, thereby supporting the transformation already underway in the sports movement. Sponsored by the Ministry of Sports, this guide was developed with the input of some forty representatives from public authorities, the federal sports movement, national prevention associations, and the private sector. It was presented on July 8, 2021, at AFNOR’s offices in Paris, in the presence of the contributors and the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu (center in the photo).

A future ISO standard?

It includes methodological recommendations and serves as a toolkit offering actions to be implemented across human, organizational, and economic dimensions for all stakeholders in professional and amateur sports. Sports must uphold its principles: justice, ethics, integrity, respect, fair play, honesty, and transparency. This framework provides guidelines for strengthening ethics and integrity along three main lines:

• Ethics and Integrity in Sports Organizations
• ethics and integrity in sports competitions
• people's ethics and integrity

Through actionable recommendations and evaluation criteria, this practical guide aims to provide a methodology for building trust in sports and enhancing its social and societal impact. As the AFNOR SPEC X30-020 On gender equality, the plan aims to be promoted internationally in the form of a future voluntary ISO standard, as part of the momentum surrounding the organization of the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. This represents the concrete implementation—put into practice nearly three years before the Games take place—of one of the 170 measures in the legacy plan unveiled by the government for the 2024 Games.