EU regulator calls for WADA to temporarily suspend "whereabouts"
requirement for dope testing athletes.

EU Commissioner responsible for sports voices concerns about
out-of-competition testing on athletes.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 20, 2009) REUTERS -
The European Union's top sports regulator is calling for the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to suspend a rule requiring athletes to give
detailed schedules of their whereabouts for drug testing while he examines it.

Top athletes such as tennis world number one Rafa Nadal and Olympic
pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, have criticised the
"whereabouts" rule under which they have to give three month's
notice of where they will be for an hour a day.

EU Sports Commissioner Jan Figel told Reuters on Friday (February 20)
WADA should put the procedure, in force since Jan. 1, on hold until he gives a
legal opinion on it in the coming months.
A legal challenge has been lodged in Belgium on behalf of 65 athletes,
including cyclists and volleyball players, who argue the rule breaks EU
privacy laws. FIFPro, the soccer players union, is also mounting a case.
"I told Mr. Fahey, the President of WADA, that for the sake of
clarity and for the sake of cohesion between many stakeholders within WADA,
they should put on hold the concrete articles, wait for the opinion of our
working party on this directive and then make the final decision," Figel
said in an interview.

Figel said he would address the issue next week when he meets WADA
chief John Fahey in Lausanne and he expected the European Commission, the EU
executive arm, to come forward with its legal opinion on the matter in the
next two months.
"On such sensitive issues, it's better to delay decision, to look
carefully in provisions and if there is evidently a discrepancy to tune it and
to look for better provisions," Figel. "Anti-doping policies deserve
this sensitivity. There are so many very sophisticated issues around
doping."

Figel added that EU law would have precedence over WADA regulations if
there were a conflict.
"WADA codes is a voluntary code and I would like to urge European
Union member states to see its compliance with national or European law
because if we get into conflict then our law should prevail," he
said.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge defended the
WADA rule when he met Figel in Brussels on Friday but said "the
circumstances could be adapted" through talks between WADA and athletes.

Rogge praised WADA's attitude not to give up its adherence to
out-of-competition testing, after meeting Figel.

The IOC president said the principle of whereabouts was important and
he believed that without whereabouts testing you could not have
out-of-competition testing at all.

Figel, however, said it was his opinion that "the WADA code should
be further looked upon and potentially amended".

Earlier this week, WADA director general David Howman said WADA would
stick with the rule but would consider any legitimate changes later if serious
problems emerged.

WADA says out-of-competition testing is key to catching cheats because
short-notice tests are essential since many illegal substances can become
untraceable within 24 hours.