Ethics Commission

The Ethics Commission was formed in 1999 in response to the Olympic Bribery Scandal. The Ethics Commission’s primary focus was to address the responsibilities of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to oversee the selection process of host cities, and to investigate any allegations of breaches of conduct by IOC Members or Olympic Candidate or Host Cities. In the summer of 1999, the Ethics Commission produced an IOC Code of Ethics.

The Ethics Commission currently has nine members. The Chair and the majority of the members are not IOC Members, Honorary Members, or former IOC Members, but are independent. The Chair and all the members of the Commission are elected by the IOC Session, for a term of four years, and they may be re-elected twice. The current chair (as of 2022) is former UN Secretary-General Ban Gi-Mun.

The Ethics Commission has three main functions:

• It draws up and continuously updates the ethical principles, including the Code of Ethics, based on the values and principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter;
• It examines situations involving potential non-compliance with the Code of Ethics and, where necessary, proposes sanctions to the IOC Executive Board and/or the IOC session; these recommendations remain confidential until the IOC Executive Board makes a decision; and
• It has a mission of prevention and advising the whole Olympic Movement to assist with application of the ethical principles and rules, which remains confidential in all cases.

Some of the above was taken from the IOC official website. Please refer to the following link for further details, especially of current members of this commission.