WADA-code in the EU

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is the foundation which has been established to promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against doping in all forms of sport. In pursuing this aim WADA cooperates with intergovernmental organizations, governments, public authorities and other public and private bodies fighting against doping in sport.

One of the most important tools for WADA in the fight against doping in sport is the implementation of a harmonized set of anti-doping rules, the World Anti-Doping Code (the Code). Pursuant to the Code drug-testers must be able to administer out-of-competition tests anytime and anywhere without prior notice. This is believed to be an effective deterrent against drugs cheats. The key provisions of the Code are that athletes must:

• Provide whereabouts and be subject to testing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year;


• Identify their location for each day in the following three months and update it should it change; and


• Specify one hour each day between 6am and 11pm during which they can be located at a specified location for testing.

Recently the WADA-code has been introduced for professional sportsmen in the EU, but now the question has been raised whether this is acceptable from a legal perspective?

According to the "Council of Europe Anti-doping Convention" anti-doping controls should be carried out at appropriate times and by appropriate methods without unreasonably interfering with the private life of a sportsman. In the light of the above, the information to be provided concerning the whereabouts should be clearly determined by taking into account the requirements of the principles of necessity and proportionality with respect to the purposes of out of competition testing and avoiding the collection of information that might lead to undue interference in athletes' private lives or reveal sensitive data on athletes and/or third parties.

Furthermore it is also being discussed whether the whereabouts imply a breach of the European privacy laws, namely, the right to privacy and family life under the provisions of article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950. Legal challenges under Data Protections Laws and the EU Working Time Directive are being considered. These regulations provide that every employee is entitled to 20-24 days of annual holiday. Regarding the whereabouts, if an athlete has to make himself available for a drug test 365 days a year, how can the whereabouts comply with this legal provision?

Legal rulings within the next months/years will probably determine the outcome of the discussion. A group of 65 athletes, cyclists, footballers and volleyball players has already filed a complaint with the Belgium's Council of State. If the case is successful in Belgium, it could undermine the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency and be used as a precedent to contest the ruling in other courts around the world.

Posted in: