The move - likely to cause acute embarrassment to Brazilian authorities - comes less than a year after the laboratory, also known as Ladetec, was reinstated following a partial suspension from January 2012.

WADA did not immediately outline the reason for its latest action, but it means that the laboratory is prohibited from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities

Brazil is about to enter a three-year period under the full glare of the world's sporting spotlight, with the World Cup to be followed in 2016 by South America's first Olympic and Paralympic Games, to be held in Rio.

The Ladetec laboratory - Brazil 's only WADA-accredited facility - is expected to play a major part in both events.

Given the negative international publicity generated by recent protests coinciding with the Confederations Cup, authorities could have done without a new setback.

WADA said that a further decision - "regarding possible revocation of the laboratory's accreditation" - would be made by its executive committee "in the coming weeks".

The laboratory is entitled to appeal the decision to suspend its accreditation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland within 21 days of receipt of notice.

Last year's partial suspension related specifically to the conducting of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) testing on samples - the element of its operation which had caused it falsely to report that Brazilian beach volleyball player Pedro Solberg Salgado had tested positive for testosterone.

The Rio 2016 Organising Committee announced in March that a planned new home for the laboratory had started to take shape, with construction expected to be concluded in the first half of 2014.

It said that 7,000 tests would be carried out in the new building during the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, and that the Brazilian Ministry of Sports had transferred around $7 million to fund construction.

The only other WADA-accredited laboratory in South America at present is Colombia 's Laboratorio de Control al Dopaje Coldeportes Nacional in Bogotá, although there are also facilities in Cuba and Mexico .

The 2014 World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Sao Paulo on June 12.