MOSCOW, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Association of Athletics Federation will return to the four-year ban on a first-time offender for serious doping violation.

The IAAF will comply with the new World Anti-Doping Code that goes into effect in 2015.

"The new WADA Code, which will come into force on 1 January 2015, will reflect our firm commitment to have tougher penalties and the IAAF will return to four-year sanctions for serious doping offences," the IAAF said Friday after its council met ahead of the world championships that start in Moscow on Saturday.

The IAAF cut the sanction to two years from four in 2004 in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency's thinking of the time.

Athletics have been hit hard by a series of doping cases involving high-profile athletes like Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown and tens of Russian and Turkish athletes, among others.