Rules to protect athletes' health and fight doping in sport

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law creates a general framework to prevent health damage and fight doping in sport, especially in organized sport with a federation license.
2. The Spanish Agency for Health Protection in Sport (Agencia Española de Protección de la Salud en el Deporte) concentrates doping control functions: it plans and carries out controls and handles and decides sanctioning proceedings, acting with functional independence.
3. Athletes with a state or approved regional license must submit to doping controls in and out of competition, provide their usual whereabouts and report the medical treatments they are following.
4. Out-of-competition controls cannot start between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., except in justified cases, and blood draws may only be performed by authorized health personnel.
5. Doping is punished with suspension of the federation license and fines: very serious offenses carry two years to lifetime ineligibility, and serious offenses one to two years or a warning.
6. An athlete who commits a doping offense automatically loses the results obtained in the competition, including medals, points and prizes.
7. Athletes with a medical condition can request a therapeutic use exemption to use prohibited substances for medical reasons and be exempt from liability for that authorized use.
8. Selling or distributing products containing prohibited substances is banned in sports establishments, and authorities may inspect first-aid kits and seize products that could be used for doping.

Who it affects

• Athletes with a state or approved regional federation license: They must submit to controls, provide their whereabouts, report treatments, and can be sanctioned with license suspension and fines for doping.
• Clubs, teams and sports federations: They must keep a treatment record book and can face fines of up to €400,000, loss of points or relegation.
• Coaches, doctors and sports health personnel: They are liable for doping offenses and can be suspended or banned for life, with notification to their professional associations.
• Elite and professional athletes: They have a health card and specific medical monitoring to protect their health.
• Establishments dedicated to sports activities: They cannot sell or distribute products containing prohibited substances that could cause doping.

Words worth knowing

Dopaje (doping)

Use of prohibited substances or methods to artificially improve athletic performance.

Licencia federativa (federation license)

Authorization granted by a sports federation to compete officially.

Autorización de uso terapéutico (therapeutic use exemption)

Permission for an athlete to use a prohibited substance for medical reasons without being sanctioned.

Control fuera de competición (out-of-competition control)

A doping control carried out when there is no competition, either unannounced or by appointment.

Infracción muy grave (very serious offense)

The most serious type of doping conduct, punished with a suspension of two years or more.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries