ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Maurizio Marullo, Giorgio Vagnoni and Francesco Amoresano, LAWP Studio legale e tributario
LAWP – Studio legale e tributario Corso Monforte 16 Milan Italy
Tel: +39 02 86 99 55 64 Email: marullo@lawp.it Web: www.lawp.it
1. Athlete Conduct, Integrity and Enforcement 1.1 Anti-Doping Regimes Doping is a crime under Article 586-bis of the Italian Criminal Code, punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to EUR51,645. This applies to anyone who: • procures, administers, takes or promotes the use of forbidden drugs or biologically or pharmacologi - cally active substances; or • adopts forbidden medical practices. These sanctions are imposed where such conduct is carried out for the purpose of unlawfully enhancing athletic performance or altering doping test results. The offence requires intentional conduct and a specif - ic aim of altering athletes’ competitive performances and/or changing the results of doping tests. To com - mit the offence, it is sufficient that the substance or practice can modify the athlete’s psycho-physical or biological conditions without therapeutic justification. Trading in doping substances is punishable with imprisonment of up to six years and a fine of up to EUR77,468. Sanctions may be increased under spe - cific circumstances (eg, if the conduct causes harm to health or is perpetrated by an agent or employee of a sports entity), and doctors and sportspersons involved in the criminal conduct can also be subject to disciplinary sanctions. Prohibited Substances and Medical Practices Prohibited substances and medical practices are peri - odically updated by a Decree issued by the Ministry of
Health. Prohibited substances are divided into three macro-categories: • prohibited substances and methods both in and out of competition (eg, nandrolone, erythropoi - etins); • prohibited substances and methods only in com - petition (eg, cocaine, ephedrine, tetrahydrocan - nabinol); and • prohibited substances and methods only in certain sports. The National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO Italia) NADO Italia is acknowledged by the World Anti-Dop - ing Agency (WADA) as the competent entity on anti- doping in Italian sports. Some of its main duties are: • issuing the Sports Anti-Doping Regulations; • planning and managing anti-doping tests and the relative results; • investigating potential anti-doping violations (through the National Anti-Doping Prosecutor’s Office) and imposing sanctions in the case of breach of anti-doping norms (through the National Anti-Doping Tribunal ( Tribunale Nazionale Antidop - ing , or TNA); • creating educational programmes and courses to raise awareness of anti-doping matters; and • managing therapeutic use exemption requests. The World Anti-Doping Code is implemented through the “Sports Anti-Doping Code”, which transposes the World Anti-Doping Code within the Italian sports sys - tem and applies to sports subjects ‒ members and affiliates ‒ under the authority of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and to non-members/
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