Therapeutic Use Exemptions: Can WADA Strike A Fairer Balance Between Prospective & Retroactive Applications?
Therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) allow athletes who use medications or methods prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for the treatment of an illness or medical condition to continue to use these treatments without falling foul of anti-doping rules. The International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (ISTUE) sets out the rules concerning the grant of a TUE. The rules were most recently revised and approved by the WADA Executive Committee on 23 September 2022 and the latest version1 (analysed in this article) will be effective from 1 January 2023. The regime set out thereunder envisages both prospective (before testing) and retroactive (after testing) applications for a TUE, with the former representing the orthodoxy and the latter being available only where certain criteria are satisfied. This article will explore:
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Whether the balance struck between prospective and retroactive TUEs is appropriate;
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Whether retroactive TUEs are capable of playing a more significant role in anti-doping regimes; and
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if so, whether the ISTUE should cast a wider retroactive TUE net.
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- Tags: Anti-Doping | Cycling | The International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions | Therapeutic use Exemptions | WADA
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Written by
Harry Bambury
Harry is a trainee solicitor at Mills & Reeve based in the firm’s Birmingham office. Harry has worked on a number of sports law matters, ranging from anti-doping cases to work permit applications for professional footballers. Before starting at Mills & Reeve, Harry studied jurisprudence at the University of Oxford.
