The European Court of Human Rights ruled on January 18, 2017 that the arrangement regarding whereabouts is not in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights.
In particular, the Court found that there was no violation of Article 8 of the ECHR, which concerns the right to respect for private and family life.
In particular, this case examined to what extent the obligation for a specific group of professional athletes to communicate their whereabouts for the purpose of carrying out unannounced doping controls was justified.
The Court recognized that the whereabouts regulation has an impact on the private lives of athletes, but ruled that the public interest that makes doping controls necessary justifies this restriction.
For example, the Court first established that the abolition of the wereabouts regulation could lead to an increase in the possible negative consequences that doping can have on the health of athletes.
Secondly, the Court ruled that abolition of this regulation would also be contrary to the European and international consensus on the need for unannounced doping controls.
The whereabouts scheme requires athletes subject to it to provide precise information about their whereabouts and daily activities to a public authority in order to enable unannounced doping controls.
One of the athletes who initiated the relevant procedure that led to this ruling is the French rider Jeannie Longo.
This decision appears to be a huge boost for WADA and could be a milestone in the fight against doping. The whereabouts arrangement was (and is) subject to much criticism.
It is not clear whether this means a free pass for the current whereabouts arrangement. After all, the complaint that led to the current judgment of the ECtHR dates from 2011. The whereabouts regulation is now much stricter and more drastic than the regulation in 2011.
The official press release can be found at the following link: https://t.co/lekirhvYY6