Sports Doping Defence Lawyers

Sports doping is a relatively new criminal offence: it was introduced into the Spanish Criminal Code by Organic Law 7/2006, which added Art. 361 bis CP, and was relocated and refined by Organic Law 1/2015, which moved it to Article 362 quinquies CP, today within Chapter III of Title XVII on public-health offences. The protected legal interest is twofold: on the one hand, the physical integrity of the athlete exposed to harmful substances; on the other, the integrity of sporting competition as a culturally and economically relevant public-interest activity. The provision punishes whoever, without therapeutic justification, prescribes, provides, dispenses, supplies, administers, offers or facilitates to non-competitive federated athletes, non-federated athletes practising sport recreationally or athletes taking part in competitions organised in Spain by sports bodies prohibited substances or pharmacological groups, or non-regulatory methods, aimed at enhancing their physical capacities or altering competition results, where they endanger their life or health. Art. 362 quinquies itself targets whoever supplies the athlete: the consuming athlete is not an active subject.

The methods of commission cover the entire doping-support chain. Criminally punishable conducts include prescription by the sports physician or by a doctor embedded in a club's or team's technical staff, dispensation by a pharmacist aware of the doping purpose, supply by physical trainers or coaches, direct administration by healthcare personnel, and offering or facilitation by intermediaries, distributors or specialised websites. The substances and methods covered are listed annually by WADA and transposed into Spanish law by Resolution of the Higher Sports Council: anabolics (testosterone, nandrolone, stanozolol), erythropoietin (EPO), human growth hormone (hGH), beta-2 agonists, masking diuretics, autologous transfusions and, in recent years, gene doping and hormonal modulators. Organic Law 11/2021 on the fight against doping in sport, replacing LO 3/2013, has updated the infringement catalogue and harmonised the framework with the WADA World Anti-Doping Code.

The penalties under Art. 362 quinquies CP are prison from 6 months to 2 years, fine from 6 to 18 months and special disqualification from public office, profession or trade, from 2 to 5 years. The penalty rises to its upper half when an aggravating circumstance applies (the victim is a minor, deception or intimidation is used, or the offender abuses a position of employment or professional superiority). If criminal proceedings concern the same facts, the Spanish Commission for the Fight against Doping in Sport (CELAD, formerly AEPSAD) stays its disciplinary proceedings against those under investigation, and a final conviction carries the suspension of the federative licence (Art. 31 LO 11/2021). The athlete who dopes faces the sports sanction under LO 11/2021: 2 to 4 years' suspension (with multipliers up to lifetime for recidivism), result disqualification, prize return, federative licence withdrawal and, where applicable, exclusion from public funding. A therapeutic use exemption (AUT/TUE), validly granted before use, excludes both criminal and sports liability for the authorised substance.

The technical defence strategy requires acting simultaneously on three levels. On the criminal level, the most fruitful lines are: (i) absence of intent of the prescribing physician when the substance had a proven therapeutic purpose and the TUE was being processed; (ii) challenge to the chain of custody of biological samples (urine and blood), analysing the ISO 17025 protocols of the accredited laboratory and the WADA Quality Control certificates; (iii) evidentiary nullity of searches, phone tapping or inspections of sports facilities carried out without a reasoned judicial warrant; (iv) atypicality due to insufficient evidence on the doping purpose of the substance, required beyond mere possession. On the administrative-sports level, we articulate appeals before the Administrative Sports Tribunal (TAD) and, where appropriate, the contentious-administrative jurisdiction. On the international level, we file arbitrations before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS/TAS) in Lausanne, the ultimate review forum for sanctions imposed by international federations and WADA.

In current forensic practice we see sustained growth in proceedings in disciplines traditionally outside the anti-doping spotlight: amateur fitness and bodybuilding (SARMs and peptides traded via digital platforms), endurance (amateur cycling, trail running, triathlon), martial arts and esports (use of stimulants and nootropics). The Guardia Civil's Central Operative Unit (UCO) and the Central Intelligence Brigade have intensified investigations into clinics, gyms and online suppliers, and Organic Law 1/2025 on Justice Service Efficiency has modified deadlines and digitalisation. At Alonso Sala we act for sports physicians, coaches, physical trainers, physiotherapists, pharmacists and athletes involved in doping investigations, deploying a coordinated criminal, administrative and sports defence with technical knowledge of WADA protocols, official listings and CAS jurisprudence, essential to avoid both criminal conviction and the sports suspension that ruins a professional career.