The Forum covered sports disputes, football transfers, lawyers’ interaction with the media and, of course, anti-doping rules.
The programme concluded with a lecture by Ganna Gnizdovska, Managing Partner of Juris Ferrum Law Firm, attorney, PhD in Law and Deputy Chair of the NADC Anti-Doping Appeals Commission.
Her lecture was titled “WADA Anti-Doping Rules: Types of Violations, Presumption of Fault and the Limits of Athlete Liability.”
Here are three of the key issues discussed with the students.
🧪 Doping is not just about a positive test.
The World Anti-Doping Code provides for 11 types of anti-doping rule violations. Evading or refusing sample collection, whereabouts failures, and possession of prohibited substances can also result in sanctions. And all of this can happen even without a positive doping test!
⚖️ Not knowing does not mean no liability.
The principle of strict liability (strict liability) means that an athlete is responsible for the presence of a prohibited substance in their body regardless of whether they intended to use it. However, the circumstances in which the substance entered the athlete’s body may affect the sanction imposed and whether the period of ineligibility can be reduced.
🔎 Who has to prove what?
An Anti-Doping Organization must establish an anti-doping rule violation to the standard of comfortable satisfaction (comfortable satisfaction). An athlete who relies on No Fault or Negligence or No Significant Fault or Negligence must, in turn, establish the relevant circumstances on the balance of probabilities.
Sometimes, the evidence itself determines whether the period of ineligibility can be reduced or a sanction avoided altogether.
The discussion also covered Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs), the ADAMS system, and the case law of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
We always enjoy meeting with students, especially when there is an opportunity to discuss not only legal theory but also real cases in which every detail can make a difference to the outcome.
And one more thing: Juris Ferrum Law Firm was the General Partner of the Forum. 💙
We thank the UBA Students’ League for the invitation and the excellent organisation!
And for those who would like to gain a better understanding of anti-doping law, we have prepared three short slides.
