Substances and Methods Prohibited for Use in Sport: Object or Means of Committing Crimes?

Abstract

Countering doping in modern sport plays an important role. In order to effectively apply various types of legal liability, it is necessary to determine what substances and methods are prohib­ited in sport. Since the advent of full-fledged anti-doping rules (1967), the list of such substances and methods, as well as the doping control system, have been dynamically changing. The anti-doping system received significant development after the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (1999). For the purposes of bringing to criminal responsibility, there is a list, initially somewhat reduced, sub­sequently substantially supplemented. The legislator's decision to create a special list raises questions. Therefore, the Author considers various approaches to such substances and methods and determines their place in the crime. In the first part of the work, prohibited substances and methods are analyzed and their characteristics are given. In the second part, the Author explores the need for a specific list of prohibited substances or methods for the purpose of criminalizing anti-doping rule violations. In ad­dition, it distinguishes between narcotic, psychotropic, potent substances, on the one hand, and prohib­ited substances, on the other. The Author comes to the conclusion that the existence of a special list for the purposes of implementing Art. 2301 and 2302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is inap­propriate due to the specifics of the acts themselves, as this limits the possibility of being held liable for the use of analogues of substances. In the third part of the work, the Author explores the understanding of prohibited substances or methods as the subject of a crime. It is concluded that to consider prohibited substances or methods as the subject of crimes under Art. 2301 and 2302 of the Criminal Code of the Rus­sian Federation is impossible, since the crime is not directly directed at them. Accordingly, in the fourth part of the work it is substantiated that such substances and methods constitute the means of committing a crime. As a result, the Author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to change the legislative regulation of criminal liability for violation of anti-doping rules.