Bonn, Germany - Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) will introduce from the start of 2009 strict new rules requiring the country's top athletes to make themselves available for at least one hour a day for random dope tests.

"During this hour, one would have to wait for a tester at a certain place," said NADA legal advisor Anja Berninger at a workshop in Bonn.

"This rule only applies to the country's top athletes. Anyway they can be creative and factor it into their training schedule."

The absence of an athlete during this hour would be considered a doping violation with three missed controls potentially leading to a two-year ban.

Under the new system that comes into operation on January 1, 2009, athletes will be put into three risk categories by NADA with each category having different requirements as regards availability for dope tests.

The athletes impacted by the one-hour rule are those in the International Registered Testing Pool (RTP), which includes all members of the Germany's A squads and teams as well as athletes involved in sports that are considered to carry a higher risk of doping.

Around 700 athletes are believed to be in this category and the move has been criticised as a further restriction on the personal rights of athletes.

However, Berninger dismissed the criticism, saying the rule was necessary in the fight against doping.

"Registration systems do restrict fundamental rights but people can't do what they want in other social areas either," she said. (dpa)