Today in the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) a new bill to combat doping in sport was decided. Referring to a press release of the „Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection“, Federal Minister Heiko Maas said in his speech to the German Parliament today (11/13/2015):
“The anti-doping law is a statement for clean sport and a challenge to athletes who dope in professional sports. Doping is contrary to the fundamental values of the sport. Doped athletes violate the” fair play“ and undermine the integrity of sport. We owe it to the majority of honest athletes to act finally. In the future, even the possession of small amounts of doping substances will be criminalized. This applies the time of sports competitions and the preparation and training time. In the future, athletes who dope won’t only be punished with a competition ban -they could be send to prison. Only with an effective fight against doping, the credibility of the sport can be obtained. The sport internal anti-doping alone can not solve the problem and that’s why it is time to intervene with the means of criminal law. And the law also supports the sport internal fight against doping – for example with arrangements for data exchange and arbitration agreement. Our common signal must be: Doping has no place in sport. With our new anti-doping law, we also support the Olympic bid of Hamburg. Candidates for Olympic Games from a country where there is an anti-doping law should have an advantage in respect of candidates in which countries are no such laws. ”
In the law legislation to combat doping, different legislations are bundled (including the drug law) and tightened. According to the press release, the bill also prohibits explicitly the use of doping methods and creates the first time a criminal penalty with the prohibition of self-doping. This targeted professional sportsmen and athletes who intend to procure themselves advantages in competitions with the use of doping substances. In addition, in the future the acquisition and possession of performance-enhancing drugs is criminal without any quantitative restrictions. Condition is that it is intended with the doping substances to to gain advantages in competition.
It is further stated in the press release that “the impact of the criminal sanction norms to combat doping in sport will be checked by the lead ministries – Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Health – five years after the entry into force of the law.“
Sources:
http://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Artikel/DE/2015/11132015_Anti-Doping_Beschluss_BT.html
http://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Zitate/DE/2015/11132015_BT_Anti-Doping.html
