New WADA code: Updated FIS Anti-Doping Rules 2009

Wed, Dec  3, 2008 - By FIS

The new FIS Anti-Doping Rules 2009 compiled in accordance with the new WADA code are now available on the FIS website (here), as well as in a printed publication, and will come into force on 1st January 2009.

The new code contains some modifications regarding whereabouts information, missed test rules, Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) and retirement/return to competition.

The primary change to the athlete whereabouts requirements is that it will be necessary for the athlete to identify one specific 60-minute time slot between 6am and 11pm each day at a specific location where they will be available for testing. Failure to be available for testing at the specified location during the specified time slot will be pursued as an apparent missed test.

Moreover, any combination of three missed tests and/or filing failures, committed within an eighteen-month period at an international (FIS) or national (NADO) level, will constitute an anti-doping rule violation. It is the athlete's responsibility to ensure that he/she provides all of the information required accurately and in sufficient detail.

As from 1st January 2009 a TUE will be required for all prohibited substances (there is no sub-category of an abbreviated TUE any longer).
Finally the whereabouts requirements apply to all athletes in the testing pool until formal retirement (FIS retirement form) and before returning to competition, an athlete has to make him/herself available for out-of-competition testing at least six months before he/she expects to return to competition (FIS return to competition form).

More information can be obtained through [email protected].