New rules to fight doping in Spanish sports

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1. The law defines doping as committing any of the offenses it lists, such as testing positive, using banned substances or methods, refusing a test, or trafficking in them.
2. It creates the State Agency Spanish Commission for the Fight Against Doping in Sport (Agencia Estatal Comisión Española para la Lucha Antidopaje en el Deporte), which plans and carries out tests and handles disciplinary cases. It acts with functional independence and cannot receive orders from any other body.
3. Out-of-competition tests may not be done between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. to protect the athlete's rest, except in justified cases where the athlete is told the reasons.
4. The main penalties are suspension of the federation license: for example, four years for non-specified substances, reducible to two if unintentional, and from four years to permanent ban for trafficking or administering banned substances.
5. Fines range from €3,001 to €100,000 for athletes depending on the offense, and from €30,001 to €300,000 for clubs, leagues or federations. At least 10% of fines paid by athletes is shared among the Autonomous Communities for clean-sport campaigns.
6. Disciplinary cases are decided by a new Anti-Doping Sanctioning Committee (Comité Sancionador Antidopaje) with seven independent members. Its decisions take effect immediately and end the administrative process.
7. Offenses expire after ten years and penalties after five. Anyone who provides substantial help to uncover other violations can have their penalty suspended.
8. Selling, storing or distributing products containing banned substances is prohibited in sports venues and events, and bringing such products into Spain requires notification forms.

Who it affects

• Athletes with a state or regional federation license, or foreign athletes competing or training in Spain: They must submit to tests, provide their location, and can face license suspension and fines.
• Athlete support personnel, such as coaches, doctors or agents: They can be banned for four years, or permanently, for doping offenses.
• Clubs, teams, professional leagues, competition organizers and federations: They can face fines, loss of points, relegation and a duty to cooperate with the Agency.
• Sports venues and events: They cannot sell or distribute products containing substances banned in sport.

Words worth knowing

Licencia federativa (federation license)

Authorization from a sports federation that allows official competition.

Autorización de uso terapéutico (therapeutic use exemption)

Permission allowing an athlete to use a banned substance for medical need.

Pasaporte biológico (biological passport)

A record of the athlete's biological values used to detect doping even without a positive test.

Sustancia de abuso (substance of abuse)

A banned substance that society frequently uses outside of sports.

Persona protegida (protected person)

A minor or person lacking legal capacity, who receives a lighter penalty system.

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