Legal Requirements to Conduct Blood Testing in Doping Control

[As] sport is now practiced on a worldwide basis, the fight against doping is an international problem and the solution to it must necessarily be international or the level playing field, which is fundamental to sport, cannot exist. There must be national building blocks in arriving at the solution, but, unless there is an international and coordinated approach to the question of doping in sport, however well-intentioned the disparate efforts may be, they will inevitably end in failure.

In determining the 'legal requirements to conduct blood testing in doping control', it must be determined whether there are any local impediments to the universal requirement that an athlete participating in elite international competition must provide a blood sample or be sanctioned for a 'refusal'. The Council of Europe Working Party on Legal Issues noted that; "in some countries, in particular Austria, blood sampling for any purpose other than a duly prescribed medical reason or legal-alcohol measurement was against the law." Athletes in other jurisdictions have also apparently convinced the courts that the provision of blood samples infringes their human dignity. The legal framework in the Oceania countries then must be carefully analysed to ensure that the fight against anti-doping in this region can be legally supported.