FTC approves HISA Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program rules

Posted: March 27, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission the morning of March 27 issued an order approving the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program rule proposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. HISA and its Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit had signaled more than a month ago the program would begin on that date.

An FTC release said The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 includes a requirement that its rules and any future modifications to those rules must be submitted for approval to the FTC. The HISA law requires that the FTC approve submitted rules if it finds that they are “consistent with” the law and its own procedural rules governing the submission process.

The FTC said its vote to approve the rule was 3-0-1. Christine S. Wilson abstained.

The 67-page order authorizing the AMDC Program rules is available here. The order discusses the process, some of the public comments, and ongoing litigation challenging HISA, and near the end states that the commission “discerns no persistence of ‘legal uncertainty’ following the statutory amendment” to HISA that was added to a federal omnibus spending bill that passed Congress and was signed into law in the final days of 2022.