Location, location, location: the whereabouts rule and the right to privacy

The new World Anti-Doping Agency Code came into effect on IS January 2009. It introduced a new international standard for testing which requires athletes in the Registered Testing Pool of their country - usually, the top athletes in an Olympic sport or the leading players in a team sport - to give three-months' advanced notice of their 'whereabouts 'for one hour per day, 365 days a year. The rationale put forwardfor the rule is that the availability of athletes for out-of-competition testing is an essential element in the fight against doping. The article assesses whether a challenge to the rule could succeed under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It explores the possibility of a UK athlete enforcing this right in the domestic courts against UK Athletics, and argues that, despite a tendency for the courts to give a narrow interpretation to the term 'public authority' under section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998, the enforcement of the whereabouts requirement could amount to a function of a public nature. In terms of the substantive Article 8 right, the article asks whether providing whereabouts information infringes an athlete's right to privacy and, if it does, whether the infringement of this right can bejustified It argues that, despite pursuing a legitimate objective of protecting the rights of 'clean athletes', it may be a disproportionate response to the problem