The Europeanization of Fair Sport: How the Council of Europe and the European Union Shape the Proportionality of Ineligibility for Doping : Charles University in Prague Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2022/II/5
Abstract
This paper examines the Europeanization of the proportionality of sanctions for doping. The World Anti-Doping Code (Code) and implementing anti-doping rules must comply with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the law of the European Union (EU), including their dimensions of proportionality.
Therefore, this paper analyses how the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU) influence the proportionality of ineligibility for anti-doping rule violations in the Code, focusing on its edition in force from 2021 (Code 2021). This paper employs an empirical study of the transnational law-making process resulting in Code 2021.
The CoE and the EU belong to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stakeholders that submitted comments and proposals on drafts of Code 2021, including those on the proportionality of ineligibility. Therefore, this paper analyses these comments and their reflection in Code 2021.
It demonstrates that the influence of the CoE and the EU on the proportionality of ineligibility in Code 2021 is limited but not negligible. The CoE influences the proportionality of ineligibility considerably more than the EU in terms of quantity and quality.
The representatives of the CoE pleaded for both milder and harsher ineligibility. The final text of Code 2021 fully reflects on a third of their comments, partially the second third, but disregards the last third.