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Amendments to the Anti-Doping Federal Act (Anti-Doping-Bundesgesetz) as of 1 January 2010

The revised World Anti-Doping Code (Code) 2009 of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), together with WADA's International Standards, went into force on 1 January 2009. As of 1 January 2010, the Anti-Doping Federal Act, the Criminal Code and the Medicines Act were also amended.

The following information aims to provide an optimum overview of the most important changes:

I. Medicines Act (Arzneimittelgesetz; AMG)

Based on the amendment to the Medicines Act, the package insert of medications containing substances that are prohibited pursuant to the WADA Code must include a respective warning in order to better inform athletes and physicians. (cf. Section 2 AMG)

II. Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch; StGB)

Section 147 Para. 1 has been expanded, stipulating that in future anyone who commits fraud causing more than minor damage by way of deceiving on the use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method in accordance with the current Prohibited List, for the purpose of doping in sport, will be punished. The range of punishment is up to 10 years. (cf. Section 147 para. 1a StGB)

III. Anti-Doping Federal Act (ADBG)

• Adoption of the definitions from the WADA Code 2009 and harmonization of the Act with the WADA Code 2009 (cf. ADBG - § 1a);
  
  
• Increased focus on doping prevention (cf. ADBG - § 2);
  
  
• Adult athletes and athlete support personnel declared ineligible on grounds of violating anti-doping rules will be permanently barred from receiving federal sports subsidies (cf. ADBG - § 3);
  
  
• Federal sports subsidies paid out in the period after the anti-doping rule violation have to be repaid by the athletes. Repayment can be waived fully or in part if the period of ineligibility has been reduced on grounds of special mitigating circumstances or contribution to resolving anti-doping rule violations committed by others (cf. ADBG - § 3);
  
  
• Classification of the National Registered Testing Pool in accordance with WADA's International Standard for Testing 2009, with the testing pool athletes subject to varying requirements to inform NADA Austria about their whereabouts (cf. ADBG - § 5 and § 19);
  
  
• Release of the national sports federations from the obligation to reimburse doping control expenses; the penalized athlete may now be directly ordered to pay these costs (cf. ADBG - § 6);
  
  
• Possibility of the retroactive approval of an application for a therapeutic use exemption. All athletes who are included in a testing pool have to apply for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) prior to the use of any prohibited substances or prohibited methods (and, of course, have to wait for an approval, except in cases of emergency treatment or treatment of an acute medical condition). Athletes not included in the testing pool need to file the application for a TUE only in conjunction with an instituted doping control process. In this case, there must be a medical indication and evidence of the medical condition for consuming medication with prohibited substances or using a prohibited method at the time of sampling (cf. ADBG - § 8);
  
  
• Testing which was not conducted pursuant to the International Standard for Testing shall in the future only be invalid if it might have effects on the analytical finding of the doping samples (cf. ADBG - § 11);
  
  
• The period to request the analysis of the "B" sample has been shortened to five calendar days in order to prevent any delays in the analysis (cf. ADBG - § 14);
  
  
• The Legal Commission of NADA Austria takes a decision for the respective federation concerned. The national sports federation is now also entitled to protest against any decisions rendered by the Legal Commission of NADA Austria (especially acquittals, etc.) with the Independent Arbitration Commission (cf. ADBG - § 17);
  
  
• Athletes who retired from sports during the period of suspension or ineligibility are ineligible to participate in competitions for a period of twelve months - instead of formerly six months - after reporting their return to active participation in sports, so that they can be regularly tested in the training phase before the competitions (cf. ADBG - § 18);
  
  
• Exclusion of persons as athlete support personnel during a four-year period after the end of the period of ineligibility imposed on them due to a violation of anti-doping rules (cf. ADBG - § 18);
  
  
• Improvement of the legal possibilities for customs authorities to take action in the case of importation of doping substances (cf. ADBG - § 22b);
  
  
• Creation of a legal basis for closer cooperation between the customs authorities, the criminal prosecution authorities and NADA Austria in the fight against doping (cf. ADBG - § 22b and § 22c);
  
  
• Provision of information to the competent authorities in order to impose professional sanctions on physicians, veterinarians, dentists, pharmacists, owners of gyms, etc. if they have been involved in anti-doping rule violations (cf. ADBG - § 22d).

Compilation of all legislation related to the Anti-Doping Federal Act (PDFSize: 149.87 KB)