News

EU Athletes and UNI Global Union today in London launched “Adverse Analyzing”, a review of the World Anti-Doping Code that shows many parts of the Code have extremely limited empirical evidence to back up any claim of effectiveness.



The review will be used to support new legal challenges to the Code and its implementation across Europe.



The research, using the publicly available annual reports from 20 European National Anti-Doping Agencies, found a disturbing lack of evidence to support current anti-doping policies and procedures.



The report shows that the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) itself and more than half of all National Anti-Doping Agencies in Europe do not meet reporting standards set forth in the code.



WADA has also failed to present any statistical evidence to support the controversial athlete whereabouts requirements. These requirements impose draconian standards on athletes who have to forecast their locations months in advance so that they are available, if necessary, for drug testing.



“After ten years of WADA, the lack of statistical evidence to support world anti-doping policy is a scandal. How is WADA developing its policies and reviewing the Code without the necessary solid statistical evidence? The lack of transparency and accountability is a serious governance deficit,” said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings.



The statistics that are publicly available are limited but show clearly that in-competition tests result in a much higher number of violations and that most of those people are confined to small pockets within the world of sport.



· It takes at least 600 out-of-competition drug tests to catch one drug cheat.

· It takes only 62 in-competition tests to catch one drugs cheat.

· Just five sports accounted for half of all doping offences.

· Cannabis was the most common substance for a failed dope test (18.7%)



“The lack of effectiveness of the present system is deeply worrying and does not justify the violation of athletes’ fundamental rights,” Yves Kummer, President of EU Athletes said. “Athletes need anti-doping rules that are effective and fair. The WADA Code fails on both counts and that is why we are launching our legal challenges today.”





EU Athletes with the support of Prof Michele Colucci today announced the launch of a legal effort that will include complaints to the European Commission, supporting an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights by an EU Athletes member, and referring a case to the European Court of Justice.



“Anti-Doping rules need to be legal and proportionate to justify the infringement of athletes fundamental rights,” Colucci said. “We do not believe that the application of the WADA Code in Europe satisfies these requirements and so have launched a number of new legal challenges today.”





Notes for Editors



1 For more information please contact Walter Palmer on +44 7924588308.

2 Click on "RELATED FILES" for copies of the report and its executive summary.

3 Professor of Law Michele Colucci is an Attorney and Member of FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber; former Member of the Legal Service of the European Commission; Professor at the European College of Parma, University of Tilburg, ISDE - Madrid, and Modena; Associate General Editor of “International Encyclopaedia of Laws” and Director of the European Sports Law and Policy Bulletin.

4 EU Athletes is a federation of independent athletes associations from all over Europe with member associations from 15 European countries representing over 25,000 professional athletes.

5 UNI Global Union is a world federation of service industry trade unions based in Nyon, Switzerland, representing over 20 million workers and 900 trade unions worldwide. UNI Global Union has a section for professional athletes called UNI Sport PRO Global Union. EU Athletes is a member of UNI Global Union.