Ioc’s Rogge Warns Against Eu Rule On Drugs

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has warned against the
dangers of handing over the responsibility for enforcing anti-doping regulations
to the European Union.

The EU is scheduled to put in place its free market laws with regard to
doping at an upcoming summit in Lisbon but Rogge has pleaded that sport remain
independent from such regulations, stating that the inclusion of sport under EU
rule would be a ‘frightening prospect’.

Said Rogge: ‘If we do not get the protection of autonomy, we might get EU
interference in something that is working well.’

Rogge cited the example of the so-called Meca-Medina case, where the European
Court of Justice ruled last year that anti-doping regulations contravened the
bloc’s competition laws by removing the freedom of two banned swimmers to
compete.

‘The judgment of the Meca-Medina case is a bit frightening for us … It puts
doping under the competition rules of the EU. We have had established doping
rules for a long time. We know proportionality of sentences is an issue, and we
accept that. But we don’t know why the EU should come in.’

The IOC currently takes most of its lead in terms of a stance on drugs from
the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and its president Dick Pound, himself a
former IOC vice president.

In his last speech as chairman of WADA, Pound will be expressing his
views on the current and future policy with regards to anti-doping at the
upcoming FT Sport Industry Summit in central London on 1st November.