New anti-doping regulations in place

The UEFA Anti-Doping Regulations, 2010 edition come into force today.

The regulations will apply to all UEFA national team and club competitions for the 2010/11 season, and show some minor amendments compared with the 2009 edition.

A circular letter explaining the changes was sent in mid-May to all UEFA member associations, and was accompanied, as every year since 2005, by leaflets warning players about the risks and dangers of doping. The leaflet covers the most important anti-doping issues that players should know about. The changes to the regulations and their impact on UEFA's anti-doping procedures are summarised below.

• 2010 whereabouts requirements

The changes that have been made to the regulations mainly concern the out-of-competition testing programme. This programme has been running for five years and involves the 32 clubs in the UEFA Champions League from the group stage onwards.

The cooperation of clubs has generally been good, both in providing whereabouts and during doping controls. Team whereabouts, which are authorised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), will continue to be the core of UEFA's out-of-competition programme. However, the amendments made to the regulations will enable the UEFA Anti-Doping Panel, from next season, to demand individual whereabouts if necessary.

This will be done in some very specific cases when clubs and/or players have not complied with the regulations. A letter explaining all the details, requirements and consequences of the procedure will be dispatched in August to the 32 clubs concerned.

• 2010 doping control procedures

The volume of the sample that a player must provide during a doping control is still 90ml. There is also no change to the rule about the specific gravity of samples (which must be 1.005 or higher when measured with a refractometer, or 1.010 or higher when measured with a test strip).

However, last season UEFA equipped some of its doping control officers (DCOs) with digital refractometers as part of a trial to determine the best means of measuring the specific gravity of samples. The refractometer gives a more accurate result than test strips, and the feedback from players, team personnel and DCOs was very favourable.

As a consequence, and after consultation with FIFA, all UEFA DCOs will be equipped with digital refractometers from the beginning of next season.

Another matter which has been clarified in the 2010 regulations is that clubs and national associations are responsible for their players reporting to the doping control station directly after the match even when chaperones are present.

• 2010 therapeutic use exemption (TUE) and declaration of use procedures

Some important amendments were made to the 2010 WADA prohibited list in January 2010 which had an impact on the procedures for therapeutic use exemptions. These changes were highlighted on UEFA.com at the time.

Since 1 January 2010, players with asthma who need to take inhaled therapeutic doses of salbutamol or salmeterol no longer have to apply for a TUE. Nonetheless, the use of these medications must be declared on the declaration of medication (D3) form if the player undergoes a doping control.

UEFA recommends, as with other substances requiring a declaration of use instead of a TUE, e.g. non-systemic use of glucocorticosteroids, that the use is declared by means of the relevant form at the time of administration rather than waiting for an eventual doping control. This recommendation is made with the intention of protecting players from accidentally testing positive.

Players with asthma who need to be treated with inhaled terbutaline or formoterol still have to obtain a TUE before treatment can begin. The application must contain a complete medical file as described in the document Asthma – Minimum Requirements.

Only intramuscular injections of platelet-derived preparations, e.g. platelet-rich plasma (PRP), 'blood spinning', are prohibited and a TUE needs to be obtained before they can be administered. Other routes of administration must be declared on the declaration of medication (D3) form during a doping control.