What are the Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs)?

The 2021 Code outlines eleven Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs).  Athletes, and Athlete Support Personnel (ASP), may receive a ban from sport if any of the following ADRVs are committed:

• The presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s sample
• Use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
• Evading, refusing, or failing to submit to sample collection
• Whereabouts failures: any combination of three missed tests and/or filing failures within a 12-month period by an athlete in a registered testing pool
• Tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control
• Possession of a prohibited substance or prohibited method
• Trafficking or attempted trafficking in any prohibited substance or prohibited method
• Administering or attempted administration to any athlete in-competition of any prohibited method or prohibited substance, or administration or attempted administration to any athlete out-of-competition of any prohibited method or any prohibited substance that is prohibited out-of-competition
• Complicity or attempted complicity: assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, conspiring, covering up or any other type of intentional complicity involving an ADRV or any attempted ADRV
• Prohibited Association: associating with a person such as a coach, doctor or physio who has been found guilty of a criminal or disciplinary offence equivalent to a doping violation
• Acts by an Athlete or other person to discourage or retaliate against reporting to authorities

It is not simply the detection of a banned substance in a sample that can result in an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV). There are 11 ADRVs that can result in a sanction, and these are not only applicable to Athletes, seven also apply to a coach or athlete support personnel.

Consequences are Significant

For Anti-Doping Rule Violations of presence or use of a prohibited substance, the basic rules are as follows:

• If you intended to cheat, whatever the substance, the period of ineligibility is four years

• Otherwise, it is two years – unless you can show you had no significant fault or negligence, in which case ineligibility may be reduced by up to a maximum of one year (that is, to a minimum ineligibility of one year)

• If the violation involved a specified substance or a contaminated product, and you can demonstrate you had no significant fault, ineligibility may range from two years to a reprimand (depending on your level of fault)

• If you can show you had no fault or negligence, the period of ineligibility may be eliminated entirely, resulting in no ban from sport

You should also be aware that multiple Anti-Doping Rule Violations, or the presence of multiple substances may increase the sanction you face beyond four years.

For some Anti-Doping Rule Violations the penalty can be a life ban from sport. 

UKAD Guidance on dealing with information and intelligence about possible ADRVs can be found here.

Managing Inadvertent Doping Risks

The Prohibited List

All banned substances and methods in Code-compliant sports are outlined in the Prohibited List, which is updated at the beginning of every calendar year, but may also be updated throughout the year. The latest Prohibited List can be found on the WADA website.

Understand the Importance of Checking Medications

Always be wary of substances that may contain similar endings to a named prohibited substance. For example, you will have heard of the prohibited substance Testosterone, so substances ending in ‘one’ are likely to have a similar chemical structure. Make sure you ask if you are unsure about a product, substance or ingredient.

Know the Risks with Nutritional Supplements

Athletes are strongly advised to be very cautious if they choose to take any supplement such as vitamin tablets, energy drinks, or sport-nutrition formulas. This is because there is no guarantee that any supplement is free from banned substances.

All athletes are advised to:

• assess the need to use supplements by seeking advice from a medical professional or nutritionist on their need to use supplement products  
• assess the risks associated with supplements and undertake thorough research of all supplement products they are considering taking
• assess the consequences to their careers – they could receive a four-year ban

before making a decision to use supplements.

However, supplement risks can be reduced by:

• undertaking thorough internet research
• only using batch-tested products
• checking on Informed-Sport (which is a risk minimisation programme) that the supplement has been batch tested

Visit the UKAD website for further information www.ukad.org.uk/supplements including information on the Informed Sport programme, which provides a batch-testing service for supplement products.

Apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)  

Tell all medical personnel that you need to abide by the Anti-Doping Rules and must not take prohibited substances unless there are no permitted alternatives and a Therapeutic Use Exemption is obtained at the relevant time

Check all medications before use on Global DRO to see if they contain any prohibited substances

Download the 100% me Clean Sport App (Apple, Android) and use the medication record function to note all medications you use. You will need to record this information on the Doping Control Form if you are tested.

If you need any advice on substances, then contact Trevor Nicholls, BTC Anti-Doping Lead at [email protected] or UKAD at [email protected].