Rethinking the anti-doping strategy
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 2 October 2015 (36th Sitting) (see Doc. 13852, report of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education
and Media, rapporteur: Mr André Schneider). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 2 October 2015 (36th Sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly highlights
the importance of safeguarding sporting values and ensuring that
the highest possible standards for the protection of these values
are properly implemented. Doping is one of the scourges which undermines
sports ethics and destroys the image of sport and of sportsmen and
women. The Council of Europe has been working in the anti-doping
field for many years; the Assembly welcomes the fact that the Organisation
has had a positive influence on the revision of the World Anti-Doping
Code and that it plays an active role in the World Anti-Doping Agency.
2. The Assembly welcomes the efforts of various national, European
and international stakeholders to make anti-doping systems more
efficient: important advances have been made with regard to the
recognition of athletes’ rights; progress on testing for new substances
and the introduction of biological passports have improved the relevance
and effectiveness of controls on athletes; major sports organisations
are taking increasing steps to improve information on the risks
linked to doping and on the anti-doping rules in force; co-operation
between police forces is beginning to be organised at European and
international level.
3. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, cases of proven doping
by high-level athletes continue to emerge and those who develop
new doping substances or procedures seem to be one step ahead of
those who attempt to track down this type of sports fraud. Worse
still, doping is taking on huge proportions in amateur sport and sports
practised by millions of young people.
4. The Assembly is worried about the threat that doping poses
to sports ethics, but it is even more alarmed by the major public
health risks it engenders and the fact that trafficking in doping
substances helps to enrich organised crime. It believes that preventive
work with young amateur and semi-professional athletes and the fight
against trafficking of doping substances should be among the priorities
of the anti-doping strategy.
5. The Assembly firmly believes that only joint efforts involving
all stakeholders can yield positive results. Various lines of enquiry
would be worth exploring in this connection, including increased
harmonisation of national legislation regarding the definition of
offences and the severity of penalties, improved co-ordination between
various State services and enhanced police co-operation, together
with increased co-operation between the authorities and sports organisations
and the pooling of information. In connection with the latter point,
sharing and comparing the information held by various stakeholders
could help to organise more precisely targeted, well-timed controls.
6. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that member States:
6.1 review and harmonise national
legislation, bearing in mind the need to reconcile the imperatives of
protecting athletes’ rights with the effectiveness of control measures
and of the prosecution and sanctioning of offences against anti-doping
legislation, and, in this context:
6.1.1 ensure better
adaptation of penalties to the actual situations;
6.1.2 increase the investigative resources available to police
forces responsible for combating doping by allowing recourse to
the “special investigative techniques” used in the fight against organised
crime;
6.1.3 give national anti-doping organisations the necessary
authorisation to:
6.1.3.1 perform surprise controls on amateur
and semi-professional athletes following modalities similar to those
for professional athletes, where there is serious presumption of
doping;
6.1.3.2 investigate not only the athletes but also the backup
staff;
6.1.3.3 set up telephone numbers for whistle-blowers;
6.2 strengthen co-ordination and information exchange between
the various State services involved in the fight against doping
and develop interstate co-operation in the fields of controls and
investigation of offences against anti-doping legislation, as well
as in combating production of and trafficking in doping substances
and the crime rings that derive profit from it;
6.3 train, in each European country, specialised magistrates
who would deal with doping and other sports questions, for example
with cases of corruption or of tampering with sports results, and
look into the possibility of giving them jurisdiction at national
level;
6.4 adopt national doping prevention programmes and, in this
context:
6.4.1 introduce awareness raising about doping
(hazards linked to the use of doping substances, to self-medication
and to dietary supplements) into school syllabi (for example, through
the agency of physical education and sports teachers) and, at all
levels of national education, develop action in the area of information
and awareness raising, seeking to collaborate with other partners,
in particular sports organisations and associations, including the promotion
of sports ethics and values;
6.4.2 set up a centre for monitoring accidents linked with doping,
develop a policy on epidemiological research (particularly in respect
of young people and amateurs) and improve biological profiling methods;
6.4.3 support the anti-doping training of health professionals
working in direct contact with athletes;
6.4.4 set up mentoring agencies at regional or local level,
with staff trained in anti-doping, with the task of encouraging:
6.4.4.1 the development of preventive action by local and regional
sports clubs;
6.4.4.2 awareness raising and training for doctors, pharmacists
and other health professionals directly involved with physical and
sporting activities;
6.5 ratify without delay the Council of Europe Convention
on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving
Threats to Public Health (CETS No. 211).
7. The Assembly recommends that national and international sports
associations and federations:
7.1 ensure
the provision of exhaustive information on anti-doping standards
and mechanisms and develop information and awareness-raising programmes
and action aimed in particular at young people, including as regards
the dangers involved in the use of dietary supplements, especially
if bought outside the official circuit;
7.2 develop strategies for “intelligent” targeting of controls,
including controls directed at non-winners and not just at the best,
building on the knowledge gained about doping practices and more
specific information upstream;
7.3 facilitate pooling of information with police authorities
and national anti-doping bodies;
7.4 establish numbers for whistle-blowers to call;
7.5 consider sports calendars, bearing in mind the risks of
athletes and teams being overworked; think also about the possibility
of limiting the number of competitions in which athletes are allowed
to participate over a specific period;
7.6 promote, in co-operation with the relevant public authorities,
the certification of sports halls and the dissemination of codes
of conduct ruling out the marketing of doping substances – or any
other form of encouragement for their consumption – with the aim
of enhancing physical performance;
7.7 take action in primary and secondary schools, alongside
the authorities, to raise awareness among young people about the
risks of doping and help them to develop a sporting culture based
on respect for values and sports ethics and not on winning at all
costs.
