Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Training organised by
(name of training organiser)
on (date) at (place)
Based on
the standard training programme in judicial cooperation in criminal
matters
within the European Union
Module 8
THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND
THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE
Version: 3.0
Last updated: 31.10.2012
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This module is part of a standard training programme in judicial cooperation in criminal matters
within the European Union (EU-Copen Training Programme).
The programme as a whole is an educational training tool designed to facilitate the training of
judicial authorities in the field of judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the European
Union. The tool is primarily aimed at any national authority responsible for judicial training, for the
purpose of developing specific training courses on the subject, as well as to any stakeholder
involved in judicial cooperation as part of their day-to-day professional practice. It may also be
used by anyone interested in this field.
The methodological approach of the standard programme aims to provide authoritative
information while also focusing on the practical aspects of the mechanisms of judicial
cooperation.
This tool was originally developed based on two projects run in 2005-2006, and subsequently in
2009, by the Institute for European Studies (Free University of Brussels) and ECLAN (European
Criminal Law Academic Network) with funding from the European Commission (under the AGIS
programme and subsequently the 'Criminal Justice' programme) of the Ministry of Justice of the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the International University Institute of Luxembourg.
In 2012, the European Judicial Training Network, which has been involved in the Copen Training
programme since it began, took over the projects management and coordination. Version 3 (3.0)
of the Copen Training tool is therefore the property of the European Judicial Training Network.
Any comments regarding its content and any requests for information about Copen Training
should be sent to ejtn@ejtn.eu, quoting Copen Training.
The main authors of version 3.0 are: Serge de Biolley, Gisle Vernimmen and Anne
Weyembergh. Veronica Santamara and Laura Surano contributed to the previous versions.
How to use this document:
The 'standard training programme in judicial cooperation in criminal matters' training tool and all
parts thereof are the property of the European Judicial Training Network. Its use is subject to the
following conditions:
1. Its content and layout cannot be altered in any way, except:
- where space is explicitly provided for the insertion of data relating to training organised on the
basis of this standard programme (organisers logo, date, place etc.)
- where space is explicitly provided for the insertion of data relating to the national situation of
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Module 8 describes how cooperation during and after sentencing operates, as established by
the Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and surrender procedures.
It looks at the background and general objectives of the new system, the concept of the
European arrest warrant, how the European arrest warrant is processed by the issuing
authority and by the executing authority, the effects of surrender, how it relates to other legal
instruments and the application of the European arrest warrant over time, its transposition and
practical implementation, as well as the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the
European Union. It concludes with some practical tips aimed at issuing and executing
authorities, together with selected case studies.
RELEVANT LEGISLATION
-
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
CONTENTS
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
6.1.
6.2.
7.
7.1.
7.2.
7.3.
8.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
1.
Remember that the extradition procedure between the Member States of the European Union
was initially organised by the conventions adopted within the framework of the Council of
Europe, namely the European Convention on Extradition of 13 December 1957 (
Compendium A.2.1.) and its two additional protocols of 15 October 1975 ( Compendium
A.2.2.) and of 17 March 1978 ( Compendium A.2.3.). Because these conventions were
somewhat outmoded and cumbersome, efforts have been made by the Member States to
simplify them. The most tangible improvements were introduced by certain provisions of the
Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA) and by two EU conventions of 1995
and 1996 ( Compendium B.4.1. and Compendium B.4.2.). For more information on this topic,
see Module 2.
It was the conclusions of the European Council of Tampere that first conceived of the abolition
of extradition, but solely for the purposes of enforcing a sentence. According to these
conclusions, the formal extradition procedure should be abolished among the Member States
for persons attempting to flee justice after having been finally sentenced, and replaced by a
simple transfer of such persons (paragraph 35). For the remainder, the European Council
envisaged a simple acceleration of extradition procedures.
The idea of abolishing extradition was subsequently developed, in particular in the programme
of measures to implement the principle of mutual recognition, but this time not just with regards
to sentencing but to pre-trial arrangements as well (cf. paragraph 3.1.2. of the programme and
paragraph 2.2.1 concerning extradition for the purposes of prosecution).
A few days after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the European Commission
presented a proposal to that effect. The initiative was negotiated during the Belgian Presidency,
and political consensus was rapidly achieved. It was then formally adopted in the form of
Framework Decision (FD) 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and
surrender procedures1 ( Compendium B.4.3.).
While pursuing the objective laid down in Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union, this
Framework Decision is in some ways the culmination of work to simplify extradition between
Member States: it replaces existing extradition procedures with a new, faster and simpler
system based on the principle of mutual recognition. The Framework Decision of 13 June 2002
was also the first practical application of this principle: the principle of mutual recognition was
applied to the European arrest warrant.
1 OJ L 190 of 18 July 2002, p.1.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Indicate here references to your national law transposing the Framework Decision
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
2.
The European arrest warrant (EAW) is defined as a judicial decision issued by a Member State
(MS) with a view to the arrest and surrender by another Member State of a requested person,
for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution or executing a custodial sentence or
detention order (Article 1 of the FD).
There are two key elements to this definition:
Firstly, the fact that it is a judicial decision: this is a core element that reflects the
judicialisation of the procedure. In theory, the central authorities, particularly the issuing
States central authority, no longer perform a role in the procedure. If they do play a role, it
must now merely be providing general information and assistance to the judicial authorities.
The Framework Decision states that each Member State may designate a central authority
or, where prescribed by its legal system, more than one central authority, to assist the
competent judicial authorities (Article 7(1) of the Framework Decision). Certain national
implementing laws have, however, attributed a greater role to the central authorities they
have designated (for example, in Ireland, the central authority verifies that the warrant is
correct as to its form and content before transmitting it to the High Court for assessment of
recognition and execution).
Indicate here the authorities and their competences in your national law
Furthermore, the fact that the decision covers the arrest and surrender of a person for the
purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution or executing a custodial sentence or
detention order means it covers the pre-trial stage and the sentencing stage.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
3.
3.1.
A European arrest warrant may be issued for offences punishable by the law of the issuing
Member State by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least 12
months2 or, where a sentence has been passed or a detention order has been made, for
sentences of at least four months (Article 2 of the Framework Decision).
Such a rule entails some broadening of the offences for which surrender can take place:
in terms of severity of the penalty imposed in the issuing State (according to Article 2
of the 1996 Convention, extradition shall be granted for offences that are punishable
under the law of the requesting Member State by deprivation of liberty or a detention
order for a maximum period of at least 12 months)
because this definition of the scope refers solely to the law of the issuing State, the
severity of the penalty in the executing State is immaterial; in other words, the
condition set forth in the 1996 convention requiring the offences to be punishable by
the law of the requested Member State by a custodial sentence or detention order
with a maximum of at least six months has been discarded (see below on the partial
abolition of the verification of double criminality).
scope and double criminality are two separate things. Double criminality is discussed
in other modules.
the Framework Decision did not establish a minimum sentence remaining to be
served, but the handbook (see below) recommends not issuing a European Arrest
warrant where the remaining sentence is less than 4 months, even if the sentence
handed down was 4 months or more.
the Framework Decision does not require the issuing authority to assess the
European arrest warrant from the perspective of the principle of proportionality, and its
legislation does not necessarily allow it a large margin of discretion: this issue is
discussed later on.
In order to address the practical problems posed by the process of issuing and executing the
European arrest warrant, the Council of the European Union has drafted the European
handbook on how to issue a European arrest warrant. The aim of this Handbook is to provide
guidelines with a view to the adoption of good practice based on practical experience to date. It
includes an annex containing guidelines on how to fill in the European arrest warrant form. The
handbook was revised in 2010 and is available on the Council of the EUs website 3. In some
2 Austrian law has concurrent requirements for EAWs issued for the purposes of executing a sentence (see evaluation
report: Council doc. 7024/08 of 28 February 2008, p. 37).
3 Council doc. 17195/1/10 REV 1, 17 December 2010 (p.60)
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Member States, this type of handbook has also been adopted at national level.
If this is the case for your country, indicate here the references from your national
handbook.
3.2.
The European arrest warrant must meet a series of conditions as to its form, content and
language.
Formal requirements
The European arrest warrant and the information it must contain must be submitted in the
form attached as an annex to the Framework Decision. The form may not be modified, or any of
its parts deleted. If a box is not relevant, not applicable should be written, rather than deleting it
(cf. Guidelines on how to fill in the European arrest warrant form, annexed to the European
handbook on how to issue a European arrest warrant4).
Indicate here how to obtain the electronic version of the form. If this form is not available
at national level, pursuant to Article 8 of the Framework Decision, the forms are available
in all languages from the website of the European Judicial Network. The form can be filled in
and printed out using the new EAW Wizard tool for completing a European arrest warrant
online, available in all languages on the EJN website.
Practical tip:
http://www.ejn-crimjust.europa.eu/eawwizard.aspx
3.2.1
Content requirements
The European arrest warrant must contain specific information (Article 8(1) of the Framework
Decision):
4 Council doc. 17195/1/10 REV 1 (see above).
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
language other than their official language. The final report on the 4 th round of mutual
evaluations deplores this situation and recommends a more flexible approach to the EAW form
and any supplementary information6.
Languages accepted by the Member States when receiving a European arrest warrant7:
German, French, Dutch8
German, French, Dutch,
Czech, Slovak
Belgium
French, Dutch, German
Bulgaria
Bulgarian
Cyprus
Greek, Turkish, English
Denmark
Danish, Swedish, English
Spain
Spanish9
Estonia
Estonian, English
Finland
Finnish, Swedish, English
France
French
Greece
Greek
Hungary
Hungarian10
Ireland
Irish, English
Italy
Italian
Latvia
Latvian, English
Lithuania
Lithuanian, English
Luxembourg
French, German, English
Malta
Maltese, English
Netherlands
Dutch, English
Poland
Polish
Portugal
Portuguese
Romania
Romanian, English,
French
Slovakia
Slovak, Czech with the
Czech Republic, Polish
Germany
Austria
9 When a European arrest warrant is issued through a SIS alert, the executing judicial authority will provide the translation if
it is not in Spanish.
10 Hungary accepts the European arrest warrant in English, French and German in its relations with the Member States
which accept language(s) other than their official languages.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Slovenia
Sweden
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
(tab1_mod8_V30)
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
TRANSMISSION
Annex to the final report from the Commission on the implementation of FD doc. SEC (2011) 430 of 11 April 2011 also
mentions the case of the Czech Republic (p. 57), of Latvia (p. 110), of Lithuania (p. 116), and of Slovakia (p. 151).
13
14
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
central authorities of the Member States (Article 10(5) of the Framework Decision). These
specifications are binding on all authorities of the issuing MS.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Where the issuing authority does not know the location of the requested person
In this instance, the issuing authority will issue an alert in the SIS, pursuant to Article 95 of the
Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement ( Compendium B.2.1.), and may or
must call on Interpols services16.
SIS alert: the issuing authority must issue an alert in the SIS, pursuant to Article 95 of the
Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement. Under the previous extradition system,
an alert had the same force as a request for provisional arrest (Article 64 of the CISA).
Pursuant to the Framework Decision, an alert in the Schengen Information System is
equivalent to a European arrest warrant accompanied by the information set out in Article
8(1) (Article 9(3) of the Framework Decision). The number of alerts for the purposes of arrest
and surrender is constantly increasing (28,666 in 2009, compared with 24,560 in 2008 and
19,199 in 2007, and in 2009 represented 82.5% of all EAWs issued by the States
participating in the SIS)17.
This use of a SIS alert is, however, on a transitional basis, due to two types of technical
limitations currently facing the SIS:
a) A technical limitation associated with the information and documents transmitted: at
present, the SIS does not allow either the transmission of all the information listed in
Article 8(1) of the Framework Decision or a scanned version of the European arrest
warrant itself. Therefore, as long as this type of limitation exists, the procedure is as
follows:
some of the information required by Article 8(1) will be transmitted through an
alert in accordance with Article 95
the additional information required will be transmitted by the Sirene bureaux via
what are known as A and M forms: these are not entered into the SIS but sent
by the Sirene bureau of the issuing State to the other Sirene bureaux
note that almost all the Member States use English as the working language for
this type of exchange of information so that, in the event of a hit in the SIS (i.e.,
if the person is located in one of the States connected to the SIS), the State in
which the person is located has basic, understandable information that it can use
to place the person in custody pending receipt of the translation
subsequently, the original and if necessary the translation of the European arrest
warrant must be transmitted within a certain period following the arrest, which
A third channel is mentioned by the Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant, namely the secure
telecommunications system of the European judicial network, but this channel is not yet operational (see Module 4).
16
17 Source: annex to the final report from the Commission on the implementation of the FD, doc. SEC (2011) 430 p. 14.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
varies depending on the Member State (see below). There are differences
between the Member States as regards the time limit for transmission following
the arrest of the requested person. Complying with the specified time limit is
imperative, since the person may be released if this has expired.
b) A technical limitation associated with the number of Member States connected: as of
November 2010, 24 Member States of the European Union are connected to the SIS,
that is, all 27 Member States minus the United Kingdom, Ireland and Cyprus. Iceland,
Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein (since December 2011) are also connected to
the SIS. However, these four States are not, as such, subject to the system established
by the Framework Decision of 13 June 2002, but to a specific system very similar to that
of the European arrest warrant, and which is applicable between the EU Member States
and some of these Schengen partners (see below). Until such time as the other Member
States are connected, the issuing authority must call upon Interpol.
The SIS II (second generation SIS) is under development. Initially, the objective of
establishing a SIS II was to do away with these two types of limitation: as originally designed,
the SIS II would not only enable all the Member States to be connected but also revamp the
SIS. The intention was to introduce new aims, to expand access to other authorities and to
integrate new information. However, the two aspects have become separated. Because
substantial difficulties and delays were encountered in the revamping of the SIS, the Justice
and Home Affairs Council of 5 December 2006 decided to extend the SIS to 9 of the new
joining Member States (this did not initially include Bulgaria and Romania, and Cyprus has
not joined the project), without awaiting implementation of the SIS II. An interim, provisional
technical solution based on the existing system (known as SISone4all), has therefore been
brought into being and has in theory been operating in most Member States since
September 2007. The SIS II, with new aims and new information, is scheduled to come into
operation in Spring 2013. With this new SIS, it will be possible to transmit all the necessary
information as well as a scanned version of the European arrest warrant itself. This will
therefore be equivalent to transmission of the original and will be immediately available, and
a translation of the European arrest warrant will then simply need to be forwarded.
Furthermore, the SIS II will also contain biometric data. The legal basis for SIS II is Council
Decision 2007/533/JHA of 12 June 200718 (for more information on the SIS, see Module 5).
Recourse to Interpol (Article 10(3) of the Framework Decision): the issuing authority may or
must call on Interpol, of which all the EU Member States are members (cf. the I-24/7
communication system, the diffusion system and the Red Notices system in Module 5). This
system is even more valuable while not all the Member States of the European Union are
connected to the SIS. For the Member States not yet connected to the SIS, note, however,
that an Interpol international alert is equivalent to a request for provisional arrest but not to a
European arrest warrant. After SIS II comes into operation, calling on Interpol will continue to
18 OJ L 205, 7 August 2007, p. 63.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
be of value when the issuing State does not know the location of the requested person, since
it can be used to contact third countries that are not EU Member States (see Module 5).
3.3.3 When?
Although the alert has the value of a request for provisional arrest and EAW, where it is
accompanied by the information listed in Article 9(3) of the FD, the latter does not in itself
contain a provision on provisional arrest, and does not fix further time limits for receipt of the
EAW following arrest of the requested person. There are significant differences between MS in
this regard. The follow-up to the final report on mutual evaluations indicates that a time limit of 6
days would be reasonable19.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Time limits for receipt of the European arrest warrant following an arrest of the requested
person20:
NB: The time limits are stated as calendar days, unless otherwise indicated
Latvia
48 hours
Lithuania
48 hours
Luxembourg
6 working days
Malta
48 hours21
Netherlands
23 days where the arrest
is on the basis of a SIS
alert; in other cases, as
soon as possible.
Poland
48 hours22
Portugal
The time limit is left to the
discretion of the court,
usually 10 days.
Romania
48 hours
Slovakia
18 days for receipt of the
original and the official
translation (release of the
person at the request of
the prosecutor); 40 days
(mandatory release of the
person)
Slovenia
10 days
Sweden
As quickly as possible (a
few days, on decision of
the prosecutor)
Czech Republic
40 days
United Kingdom 48 hours23
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
20
21
22
23
40 days
40 days
10 days
24 hours
3 days (provided the EAW
has been issued prior to
the arrest of the
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
24
25
requested person)
As quickly as possible or,
insofar as possible, within
10 days24
As quickly as possible,
and always within 10 days
3 working days
As quickly as possible or,
on request, within a
deadline set by the
Finnish competent
executing authority
6 working days
15 days, with a possibility
of extending the deadline
to 30 days
40 days
7 days25
10 days
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
4.
4.1.
When an alert is entered in the SIS by the issuing State, this alert must also be processed by
the SIS central authority in each of the other States. A check is therefore conducted before
activating the alert in the national territory. This check is currently governed by the provisions of
the Schengen convention regarding extradition, which creates a degree of conflict with the
Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant.
Under the Schengen convention, an indicator of validity (or, to use EU jargon, a flag) may be
attached to the alert in question, preventing the persons arrest for 24 hours. At the end of this
24 hours, the prohibition of arrest is either confirmed on legal grounds or for special reasons of
expediency or withdrawn. In exceptional cases, this 24-hour time limit may be extended by up
to one week.
This flagging may be perfectly justified: there are instances where it is certain that a person
cannot be surrendered (for example, because he is 14 years old, whereas the age of criminal
responsibility in the executing State is never lower than 16) and an arrest, even for a limited
duration, must consequently be avoided.
The system established by the Schengen convention partially contradicts the Framework
Decision on the European arrest warrant, since it could entail that arrest is prevented (which
could de facto equate to non-execution of the European arrest warrant):
by a decision taken by an administrative authority (the SIS central authority), whereas
the Framework Decision states that the decision on execution is taken by a judicial
authority
on legal grounds or for special reasons of expediency, whereas the Framework
Decision provides for closed and narrowly-defined grounds for refusal.
It would, for example, be problematic if an administrative authority in charge of the SIS were to
decide, at its own initiative, to enter a flag based on a double criminality or ne bis in idem
requirement, since these are often complex legal issues that must be examined by a judicial
authority.
The possibility of using flagging is retained in the new rules that will shortly apply to the SIS II,
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
but will be more strictly defined26. A flag may therefore be added in two instances:
where the European arrest warrant in question has already been the subject of a normal
procedure that has led to a decision of non-execution, and where the judicial authority
that took this decision has requested the addition of a flag (= a posteriori flagging)
where a competent judicial authority (for example a court exercising certain centralised
powers) has asked the SIS central authority to add a flag, either in the specific case
(most probably referred by the SIS central authority) or by means of a general
instruction (for example on the issue of minors) (= a priori flagging), but only if it is
obvious that the execution of the European arrest warrant must be refused.
Given the potential contradictions between the current text of the Schengen convention and the
Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant, it is clearly preferable for the national
authorities to choose to opt for the solutions contained in the decision on SIS II, even if these
are not yet mandatory.
Note the interesting example of France, where a judge is a permanent presence at the SIS
central authority who ensures that there is judicial supervision of flagging at source.
Flagging should be distinguished from the deletion or correction of an alert under Article 111 of
the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA). In the latter, the request may
be made in any participating State, and the decision then enforced in the other States. The
relationship between the two situations is, however, vague, and the final report on mutual
evaluations states that this point should be examined further27.
4.2.
Based on the European arrest warrant or on the SIS alert, the necessary measures must be
taken in the executing Member State to locate and arrange for the arrest of the requested
person.
The Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 expressly enshrines two rights in favour of a
requested person who is arrested:
a) when a requested person is arrested, the executing competent judicial authority
shall, in accordance with its national law, inform that person of the European arrest
warrant and of its contents, and also of the possibility of consenting to surrender to
the issuing judicial authority (Article 11(1) of the FD). This information should take
26
27
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
the form of a letter of rights, for which an indicative model is published in an Annex to
Directive 2012/13/EU of 22 May 2012 ( Compendium B.6a.1.)28.
A requested person who is arrested also has a right to be assisted by a legal counsel and by an
interpreter (Article 11(2) of the FD). Access to interpretation is governed by the provisions of
Directive 2010/64/EU of 20 October 2010 in the same way as for any suspect or accused
person in a national procedure ( Compendium B.6a.2.)29. For other cases, arrest and
detention will be governed by the international obligations incumbent on the executing State
including Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and by the domestic law of
the executing State. The executing judicial authority will therefore decide whether the arrested
person should remain in detention in accordance with its national law. Pursuant to that law, the
authority may order the persons provisional release, provided the competent authority of the
said Member State takes all the measures it deems necessary to prevent the person
absconding (Article 12 of the Framework Decision).
The Framework Decision lays down further requirements regarding the rights of the person
concerned:
a) regarding consent to surrender given by the person concerned and, if appropriate,
renunciation of entitlement to the speciality rule (cf. Article 13 of the FD)
b) regarding the hearing of the person concerned: where the arrested person does not
consent to his or her surrender, he or she will be entitled to be heard by the
executing judicial authority, in accordance with the law of the executing Member
State (cf. Article 14 of the FD).
4.3.
SURRENDER DECISION
4.3.1 Time limits for the decision to be taken and situation pending the decision
Since one of the main objectives of the new system is the acceleration of procedures, all
European arrest warrants are to be dealt with and executed as a matter of urgency (Article 17(1)
of the Framework Decision), and time limits for taking the decision on surrender have been laid
down.
There are two separate scenarios:
a) either the person consents to the surrender: in this case, the final decision on
surrender should be taken within a period of 10 days after consent has been given
(Article 17(2) of the Framework Decision) Note that although the consent may not, in
principle, be revoked, some Member States (DK, FIN, SE, BE) have made use of the
possibility of declaring that revocation is possible (Article 13(4) of the FD). In such
cases, the period between consent and revocation shall not be taken into
28
29
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
consideration in establishing the time limits within which the decision to execute the
EAW must be taken.
b) or the person does not consent to the surrender: in this case, the final decision on
the execution of the European arrest warrant should be taken within 60 days of the
arrest (Article 17(3) of the Framework Decision)
If these deadlines cannot be met, an extension of 30 days is possible, but the executing judicial
authority must immediately inform the issuing judicial authority, giving the reasons for the delay
(Article 17(4) of the Framework Decision).
Where, in exceptional circumstances, a Member State cannot observe the time limits provided
for, it shall inform Eurojust, giving the reasons for the delay (Article 17(7) of the Framework
Decision).
If the person enjoys a privilege or immunity, these time limits shall not start running unless, and
counting from the day when, the executing judicial authority is informed of the fact that the
privilege or immunity has been waived. Where power to waive the privilege or immunity lies with
an authority of the executing Member State, the executing judicial authority shall request to
exercise that power, but it shall be for the issuing judicial authority to request it in all other cases
(Article 20).
Pending its decision, and where the European arrest warrant has been issued for the purpose of
conducting a criminal prosecution, the executing judicial authority must either agree that the
requested person should be heard according Article 19 of the Framework Decision or agree to
the temporary transfer of the requested person (Article 18 of the FD). The conditions and the
duration of the temporary transfer shall be determined by mutual agreement between the
issuing and executing judicial authorities.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
one based on the nationality of the person concerned: in doing so, the
Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant takes
account of European citizenship.
Note that the fact that the requested person is a national of the executing State is not
mentioned among the reasons for refusal and cannot be grounds for a decision of
non-execution. Two specific rules are, however, applicable (see below):
for a European arrest warrant for the purposes of conducting a prosecution:
the executing State may require that the requested person serve their
sentence in their territory if the proceedings result in a conviction.
for a European arrest warrant for the purposes of serving a sentence: the
executing State may decide that the sentence in question should be served
in their territory. In this case, the European arrest warrant is executed even if
the person is not actually surrendered to the issuing State.
The fact that the requested person is a national of the executing Member State
sometimes has the effect of modulating certain optional grounds for refusal, such as
the territoriality clause (see below).
b) others have been relaxed: this the case for the double criminality requirement,
which traditionally allows States to refuse to give their support for the suppression of
acts that do not constitute offences in their own law. Verification of this requirement
has in fact been partially abolished (see below).
Among the grounds for non-execution of the European arrest warrant expressly laid down as
such by the Framework Decision, three are mandatory, others are optional.
The three mandatory grounds for non-execution (Article 3 of the FD)
a) Amnesty (Article 3(1) of the FD): if the offence on which the arrest warrant is based
is covered by amnesty in the executing Member State, but only when that State has
jurisdiction under its own criminal law to prosecute the offence in parallel to the
issuing State.
b) Ne bis in idem (Article 3(2) of the FD): if the executing judicial authority is informed
that the requested person has been finally judged by a Member State in respect of
the same acts provided that, where there has been a sentence, the sentence has
been served or is currently being served or may no longer be executed under the
laws of the sentencing Member State. Unlike the provisions of the previous
instruments governing extradition, this condition is relative, in that it does not
automatically require verification by the executing judicial authority. This change is
due to the dynamics of the new system, under which such verification takes place
principally in the issuing State. Having said this, if the executing judicial authority is
notified of the existence of such a final sentence, (see below the Mantello
judgment of the CJEU), it must draw its own conclusions, i.e. refuse to execute the
warrant (see Module 9 for more information on ne bis in idem in transnational
relations).
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
c) Criminal responsibility (Article 3(3) of the FD): where the person concerned, due to
his or her age could not yet have been held criminally liable for the acts in respect of
which the decision was passed under the law of the executing State. The rules on
the age of criminal responsibility vary considerably from one Member State to
another.
Optional grounds for non-execution (Article 4 of the FD)
The Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 lists 7 instances where the executing judicial
authority may refuse to execute the European arrest warrant. These seven optional grounds for
non-execution according to the Framework Decision are the following:
a) Absence of double criminality (Article 4(1) combined with Article 2 of the Framework
Decision): if the European arrest warrant is based on acts that are not one of the
offences for which the double criminality test has been abolished, and in these
circumstances the double criminality test has not been met. The possibility of
verifying double criminality is therefore still the rule, but in practice this verification
has been largely abolished. The Framework Decision provides that verification may
take place only in the cases foreseen in paragraph 4 of Art 2 meaning that the
offence is not included in the conditions settled in paragraph 2 of the same article.
The reference to the law of the issuing State, rather than that of the executing State, is
crucial in explaining this limitation of the verification of double criminality. The executing
judicial authority may therefore not verify whether the classification of the offence
corresponds to that of its domestic law (or, by extension, the severity of the penalty). In
other words, the executing authority must confine itself to checking that the issuing
authority has ticked one of the 32 boxes in the list contained in the certificate or warrant
(see below)30.
Moreover, the descriptions used in this list do not correspond to legal classifications. The
wording is generic. These 32 categories of offence should be interpreted flexibly by the
issuing authority when completing the certificate or warrant. It is of course not required
that exactly the same terms (e.g. sabotage) are used in domestic law.
Verification of double criminality is also no longer exercised with regards to attempts at
or complicity in one of the 32 categories of offences, except in Bulgaria, Denmark and
Poland31.
See below for the judgment of the Court of Justice in the Advocaten voor de wereld case
concerning the compatibility of Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision with Article 6(2) of
the EU Treaty.
30
31
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
b) Ongoing prosecution in the executing State for the same act (Article 4(2) of the FD).
This is normally the case where the person is already being prosecuted for the same
acts when the executing authority receives the EAW, but some implementing laws
have applied this provision differently: for example, in Austria, an EAW issued in
respect of a national for offences committed abroad will be sent to the national
prosecution authorities if the offences are also punishable in Austria in order to
initiate a new procedure in Austria32.
c) Extension of the ne bis in idem principle to decisions adopted in the executing
Member State not to prosecute or to halt proceedings in respect of the same acts,
preventing further proceedings (Article 4(3) of the Framework Decision). This ground
for refusal largely corresponds to the broad interpretation given by the CJEU to
Article 54 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement in the Gzutc
and Brgge case (see Module 9). According to this interpretation, it is therefore
logical to consider that this ground for non-execution has become mandatory.
d) Extension of the ne bis in idem principle to third States (Article 4(5) of the FD): if the
executing judicial authority is informed that the requested person has been finally
judged by a Member State in respect of the same acts provided that, where there
has been sentence, the sentence has been served or is currently being served, or
may no longer be executed under the laws of the sentencing country.
e) Statute of limitations (Article 4(4) of the FD): where the criminal prosecution or
punishment of the requested person is statute-barred according to the law of the
executing Member State, but only when the acts fall within the jurisdiction of that
Member State under its own criminal law.
f) Nationality or residence in the executing State (Article 4(6) of the Framework
Decision): if the European arrest warrant has been issued for the purposes of
executing a custodial sentence or detention order, where the requested person is
staying in, or is a national or a resident of the executing Member State and that State
undertakes to execute the sentence or detention order in accordance with its
domestic law. For example, if a European arrest warrant is issued in respect of
person X, a national or resident of State A, by a court in State B for the purposes of
execution of a sentence, the judicial authority of State A may refuse to execute the
warrant and to surrender X, but will undertake to execute the sentence in
accordance with its domestic law33.
Several Member States apply these provisions differently, depending on whether the
requested person is or is not a national: the ground for refusal is mandatory in the
32
33
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
first instance, and optional in the second (for example in AT 34 and in DE35), or simply
not applicable to non-nationals (SE36). This is also reserved solely for nationals in
France.
The Court of Justice has already been called upon on three occasions concerning
matters of interpretation of this provision: in the Szymon Kozlowski case, in the
Wolzenburg case, and in the Lopes da Silva Jorge case (see below section 8).
The surrender of nationals on the basis of an EAW has also been the subject of a
number of judgments from national courts (see below section 7).
Execution should be possible even if the acts that gave rise to the final sentence are
not punishable in the executing MS37. Where the executing Member State
undertakes to execute the sentence instead of surrendering the person who is the
subject of the European arrest warrant (or where execution of the warrant is subject
to returning the person to the executing Member State in order to serve their
sentence there see below), the provisions of Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA of
27 November 2008 on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to
judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving
deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the EU (
Compendium B.5.5. see Module 10) applies mutatis mutandis to the extent that
they are compatible with those of the FD on the EAW (Article 25 of FD 2008/909).
However, this instrument allows (Article 7(4)) Member States to declare they will
refuse to execute the sentence where there is no double criminality (PL, IE and AT
have made a declaration to that effect38). The final report notes differences that could
cause difficulties39. It is recommended that any problem encountered in this regard is
reported to the government, which may refer the matter to the Commission, which is
responsible for the report on the transposition of FD 2008/909/JHA.
g) Territoriality clause (Article 4(7) of the FD): where the European arrest warrant
relates to offences that:
Are either (letter a) regarded by the law of the executing State as having been
committed in whole or in part in the territory of the executing State or in a place
34
35
36
37
38
39
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Indicate here the specifics of your national implementing law and the relevant case-law
where appropriate
40
41
42
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
for believing that there are, in the MS normally competent to consider such requests,
systemic violations of these rights that may result in an inhuman or degrading treatment
within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter.
the Court of Justice is due to give its judgment shortly, as part of a preliminary ruling 45.
4.3.3 Conditional surrender
In three scenarios, the executing judicial authority may make the surrender subject to obtaining
certain guarantees from the issuing authority (Article 5 of the Framework Decision):
Decisions in absentia
Where the European arrest warrant has been issued for the purposes of executing a sentence
or a detention order imposed by a decision rendered in absentia, and if the person concerned
has not been summoned in person or otherwise informed of the date and place of the hearing
which led to the decision rendered in absentia, surrender may be subject to the condition that
the issuing judicial authority gives an assurance deemed adequate to guarantee the person that
he or she will have an opportunity to apply for a retrial of the case in the issuing Member State
and to be present at the judgment. For the executing judicial authority, the requirement for such
assurances is theoretically only optional and not mandatory: according to the Framework
Decision, that authority may, but need not necessarily, require them.
Under the new Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA of 26 February 2009 ( Compendium
B.5.8.)46 which should be transposed no later than 28 March 2011 47) a new Article 4a has
been inserted into the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant. These new
provisions replace this system of conditional surrender. They allow, subject to certain conditions,
refusal to execute the EAW if the person did not appear in person at the trial resulting in the
decision. For further information, see Article 2 of Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA. The
previous system nevertheless remains in force in respect of judgments in absentia handed
down in Italy, which has declared, as authorised by Article 8(3) of FD 2009/299, that it will only
apply it from 1st January 2014 at the latest.
Life sentences and life-time detention orders
If the offence on the basis of which the European arrest warrant has been issued is punishable
by custodial life sentence or life-time detention order, the execution of the said arrest warrant
may be subject to the condition that the issuing Member State has provisions in its legal system
for a review of the penalty or measure imposed, on request or at the latest after 20 years, or for
the application of measures of clemency to which the person is entitled to apply for under the
45
46
47
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
law or practice of the issuing Member State, aiming at a non-execution of such penalty or
measure. As with the previous scenario, this option is only available to the executing judicial
authority.
Nationality and residence
Where a person who is the subject of a European arrest warrant for the purposes of prosecution
is a national or resident of the executing Member State, surrender may be subject to the
condition that the person, after being heard, is returned to the executing Member State in order
to serve there the custodial sentence or detention order passed against him in the issuing
Member State. This is the second qualification made to the abolition of the ground for refusal on
the basis of nationality. For example, if a European arrest warrant is issued in respect of a
person X, a national or resident of State A, by a court in State B for the purposes of prosecution,
the judicial authority of State A may make the surrender of X subject to the return of X, after
being heard, to serve the custodial sentence or detention order passed against him in State B.
See the observations on Article 4(6) of the FD above, and in particular the impact of Framework
Decision 2008/909/JHA of 27 November 2008 on the application of the principle of mutual
recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures
involving deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the European Union
(Module 10).
See also the judgment of the Court of Justice in the I.B. case concerning combinations of the
conditions laid down in Article 5(1) and (3).
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Conflict between a European arrest warrant and a request for extradition presented by a third
country (Article 16(3) of the Framework Decision)
The Framework Decision does not expressly state that the European arrest warrant takes
precedence over a request for extradition from a third country. It simply states that the executing
State must choose between the two competing requests with due consideration of all the
circumstances. Nevertheless, since the aim is to establish a European criminal law-enforcement
area between the Member States of the European Union and to create mutual confidence,
except in special cases it would a priori seem logical to give precedence to a request from
another Member State.
4.3.5 Appeals
The Framework Decision itself makes no provision regarding any appeals against a decision
taken by the executing judicial authority concerning surrender. The rules on the matter are
governed by the executing States domestic law. It should be noted, however, that the time limits
set forth in Article 17 (see above) also apply to appeals.
49
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
4.4.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
5.
5.1. DEDUCTION OF THE PERIOD OF DETENTION SERVED IN THE EXECUTING MEMBER STATE
(ARTICLE 26 OF THE FD)
The issuing Member State shall deduct all periods of detention arising from the execution of a
European arrest warrant from the total period of detention. To that end, all information
concerning the duration of the detention of the requested person on the basis of the European
arrest warrant shall be transmitted by the executing Judicial authority to the issuing judicial
authority.
5.2.
Under the speciality rule, a person surrendered may not be prosecuted, sentenced or otherwise
deprived of his or her liberty for an offence committed prior to his or her surrender other than
that for which he or she was surrendered. However, this rule is deprived of much of its
substance, since the Framework Decision makes it conditional on two types of exception:
it does not apply in the seven cases listed in Article 27(3)
it does not apply between the Member States that have notified the General Secretariat
of the Council that consent is presumed to have been given for persons surrendered to
be prosecuted, sentenced or detained for an offence committed before the surrender
and other than that for which he or she was surrendered (only AT and EE have made
such a declaration). Even when such notification has been given, the executing
authorities retain the option, in specific cases, of providing otherwise in the decision to
surrender.
On the interpretation of Article 27 of the FD, see (below) the judgment of the Court of Justice in
the Leymann and Pustovarov case.
Note that the FD does not contain any provision on accessory surrender (the ability to
surrender the person at the same time for acts that fall within the scope of the FD and for
offences that do not fall within this scope, contrary to the Council of Europe extradition
convention (Article 2(2)). The situation varies between Member States 50. In addition, prosecution
for previous acts not covered by the EAW, but which are not punishable by a penalty involving
deprivation of liberty, is authorised under Article 27(3) b), c) and d).
50
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Where a person X has been surrendered by executing State A to issuing State B, the latter may
not then surrender the person to another Member State C or extradite him or her to a third State
for an offence committed prior to the initial surrender, without the executing State A having given
its consent to this surrender or this subsequent extradition. In the case of a subsequent
surrender to another Member State, however, this principle, is deprived of much of its substance
in that:
a) in three scenarios, the subsequent surrender to a Member State may take place
without the consent of the executing State A (paragraph 2).
b) the executing State As option of refusing subsequent surrender to another
Member State is limited and subject to rules: State A must consent to the
surrender when the offence for which surrender is requested entails an obligation
to surrender (paragraph 3).
c) Each Member State may notify the General Secretariat that, in its relations with
other Member States which have given the same notification, it consents to the
subsequent surrender of the person to a Member State other than the executing
Member State for offences committed prior to surrender. None of the Member
States have made use of this option. Even when such notification has been
given, the executing authorities retain the right, in specific cases, of providing
otherwise in the decision to surrender (paragraph 1).
The Court of Justice has stated that where there is more than one successive warrant, the
executing MS that must indicate its consent is the one that made the last surrender: see below
the Melvin West case.
Note that these three relaxations of the rule do not apply in the case of subsequent extradition
to a third State (Article 28(4) of the FD).
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
6. Relation to other legal instruments and the application of the European arrest
warrant over time
6.1.
From 1 January 2004, the Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 replaced the following existing
conventions between the EU Member States51:
a) the 1957 Convention of the Council of Europe and its protocols, as well as the
provisions relating to extradition in the 1977 European Convention on the
suppression of terrorism
b) the Convention of 16 May 1989 between the MS of the EC on the simplification
and modernisation of methods of transmitting extradition requests
c) The EU extradition conventions of 1995 and 1996
d) the provisions (Title III, Chapter 4) of the Convention Implementing the
Schengen Agreement.
However, these texts do not necessarily cease to apply:
a) between Member States: consideration should be taken not only of the rules
governing the application of the Framework Decision over time (see below), but
also of any annulment by specific national constitutional courts of domestic
implementing legislation. In the event of annulment, the resultant legal vacuum
has to be filled, and it is logically the old rules that are then applied (see the case
of Germany below, before the entry into force of the law of 25/7/2006).
b) between Member States and third States: the pre-existing provisions continue to
apply. For instance, the conventions of the Council of Europe continue to apply in
relations between Member States and third States.
On the interpretation of Article 31 of the FD, see (below) the judgment of the Court of Justice in
the Santesteban Goicoechea case.
Article 31(2) also allows MS to continue to apply bilateral or multilateral agreements or
arrangements in force when this Framework Decision is adopted in so far as such agreements
or arrangements allow the objectives of this Framework Decision to be extended or enlarged.
Thus, DK, SE and FIN continue to apply the uniform legislation in force between the Nordic
States between them52.
NOTE: arrangements with the Schengen partners
a. The extradition system, with the improvements already introduced by the Schengen
convention, currently continues to apply with the Schengen associate states, namely
Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, since these States are not bound by the Framework
51
52
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Decision on the European arrest warrant, which is not a development of the Schengen
acquis.
b. However, solely in the case of relations between the EU Member States and Norway and
Iceland (and therefore not with Switzerland or Liechtenstein), it should be noted that an
agreement was concluded on 28 June 2006 on a surrender procedure ( Compendium
B.8.3). This agreement, which is not yet in force, establishes a procedure that is almost
identical to that of the European arrest warrant: judicialisation, scope of the SIS alert etc.,
albeit with some slight differences, including:
double criminality: verification of double criminality still applies, but each of the
States concerned may declare that, on condition of reciprocity, it will abolish this
verification in the same instances as those provided for the European arrest
warrant.
political offence: the exception for political offences is removed, but this removal
may be limited to specific terrorist offences.
surrender of nationals: the basic rule is identical to that of the European arrest
warrant, but one of the States concerned may declare that it will refuse to
surrender its nationals.
6.2.
APPLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT OVER TIME (ARTICLE 32 OF THE FD)
Requests for surrender received before 1 January 2004 are still governed by the previous
instruments. This will apply only as long as the extradition procedure is in force. This procedure
may result in a refusal to extradite. Although the matter is not regulated in the Framework
Decision, it appears that in this instance it is possible to issue a European arrest warrant, the
execution of which will then be subject to the new system created by the Framework Decision.
Accordingly, if the refusal to extradite is based, for example, on the fact that the person in
question is a national of the requested Member State, issuing a European arrest warrant will
make it possible to overcome this obstacle, since this ground for refusal is not provided for in
the Framework Decision.
In principle, the European arrest warrant procedure is applicable to surrender requests received
after 1 January 2004. This date is effectively applicable in the Member States which had
transposed the Framework Decision into their law by that date. It is a later date in the other
Member States (see the table below). In addition, the Framework Decision provides that at the
time of adopting the Framework Decision, Member States may make a declaration indicating
that they will continue to apply the previous extradition system to acts committed before a date
which they specify, provided that the date in question is not later than 7 August 2002. Six
Member States have made use of this option, but not always in the manner provided for in the
Framework Decision:
a) The French implementing law provided that the new system would apply to
surrender requests received from 10 March 2004, but that the previous extradition
system would continue to apply to requests based on acts committed before 1
November 1993.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
b) Italy and Austria declared that they will continue to deal with requests for surrender
for acts committed before the entry into force of the FD (7/8/2002) in accordance
with the previous extradition system. In addition, Italy continues to verify double
criminality for acts committed prior to the Italian implementing law (i.e. committed
before 14/5/2005).
c) Luxembourgs implementing law states that the European arrest warrant will only
apply to acts committed after 7 August 2002, irrespective of whether LUX was the
issuing or executing Member State, although it had not made the necessary
declaration to this effect at the time of adoption of the Framework Decision. The
legislation was amended in August 2011 to bring it into conformity with the FD.
d) The Czech Republic declared that it would continue to apply the previous extradition
system to requests concerning Czech nationals based on acts committed before 1
November 2004, in other words by a date later than 7 August 2002, without making a
distinction as to the issuing or executing Member State. This declaration was also
untimely, since this country is one of the new Member States which clearly could not
have been associated with the adoption of the Framework Decision.
e) Slovenia also declared that its implementing law is applicable only to offences
committed after 7 August 2002, but withdrew its declaration in October 2008.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Czech Republic
07/06/2004
12/05/2004
01/05/2004
01/01/2004
01/01/2007
01/08/2004
01/05/2004
01/01/2004
14/01/2005
United Kingdom
01/01/2004
(tab3_mod8_V30)
On the interpretation of Article 32 of the FD, see (below) the judgment of the Court of Justice in
the Santesteban Goicoechea case.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
7.
The measures transposing the Framework Decision were to be adopted by the Fifteen by no
later than 1 January 2004 and by the 10 new Member States by no later than 1 May 2004. Of
the 15, only 8 were ready in time: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Portugal
and the United Kingdom. To date, the text has been transposed in all the Member States
including the two new members, Romania and Bulgaria, from 1 January 2007. However, as
evidenced by the first report from the European Commission on evaluations issued in February
2005, many Member States transposed it late, and many also did so inconsistently (e.g. Italy,
which increased the number of grounds for refusal).
In some cases, the application of the European arrest warrant generated significant difficulties,
but practitioners generally agree that overall it has been a great success and has markedly
improved cooperation in comparison to the previous extradition procedure.
Although the figures should be treated with caution, particularly because not all the States have
reliable statistics in this area, the data in the table below confirm this overall positive trend. The
number of EAWs issued has more than doubled in 5 years, while the number of EAWs executed
over the same period has multiplied by five.
Statistics on the application of the European arrest warrant
(2005-2009)53:
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Number of
EAWs issued
6894
6889
10883
14196
15827
Number of
persons
surrendered
836
1223
2221
2919
4431
In 2009, surrender decisions with the consent of the person concerned were taken within an
average of 16 days and those without consent within an average of 48.6 days. Over 50% of
surrenders took place with the consent of the person concerned54.
However, constitutional problems have arisen in some of the Member States, primarily with
regard to the surrender of nationals. In some instances, these led to the total or partial
53
54
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
annulment of the implementing law, and sometimes to a constitutional amendment (PL, RO,
CY)55. There are three important examples of this below:
7.1.
GERMANY
POLAND
Article 55(1) of the Polish Constitution prohibits the extradition of its nationals. When
transposing the Framework Decision, the Polish legislator did not concern itself with this
provision. It considered that surrender in the context of a European arrest warrant is a separate
concept to that of extradition and is therefore not covered by Article 55(1). Article 607t(1) of the
Code of Criminal Procedure authorises the surrender of a Polish national on the basis of a
European arrest warrant issued for the purposes of prosecution. Following a Dutch European
arrest warrant issued against a Polish national (Maria D.), Gdansk regional court nevertheless
decided to refer the matter to the Polish Constitutional Court. Unlike the legislator, the
Constitutional Court held that the procedure on the basis of the European arrest warrant
complies with the definition of extradition within the meaning of Article 55(1) of the Constitution.
According to the court, surrender is in essence no different to extradition. Both cases entail
handing over a person who is sought for prosecution or sentencing to a foreign State so that it
can undertake a prosecution or in order to impose a sentence. The court therefore held that
surrender is a form of extradition within the meaning of Article 55(1) of the Polish constitution,
and thus concluded that Article 607t(1) is unconstitutional 57. It merely annulled the disputed
provision, rather than the implementing law as a whole. It also delayed the effect of the
annulment by 18 months, until 6 November 2006. Article 55 of the Polish constitution was
55
56
57
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
amended in due course and since 7 November 2006 Poland has been surrendering its
nationals, albeit maintaining some restrictions (the alleged acts must have been committed
outside Polish territory, and the surrender is subject to the double criminality requirement).
Therefore, whether it is consistent with the Framework Decision is still open to question.
7.3.
CYPRUS
The constitution of Cyprus prohibits the extradition of its nationals. The surrender of a Cypriot
national to the British judicial authorities had been refused on the basis of the unconstitutionality
of the national law transposing the Framework Decision. In support of an appeal against this
refusal, the public prosecutors office argued, inter alia, that the surrender procedure was not
equivalent to an extradition, and that it could not therefore be considered to fall within the scope
the constitutional prohibition. This argument was not accepted by the Supreme Court of Cyprus
in its judgment of 7 November 200558. Conservatively, it circumvented the issue: it argued that
the reasons justifying the arrest of persons are exhaustively enumerated by the Constitution and
that, whatever the nature of the surrender, the arrest of a Cypriot for the purposes of his or her
surrender to the judicial authorities of another Member State on the basis of a European arrest
warrant is not included in that list of reasons. It concluded that it cannot interpret domestic law in
conformity with the Framework Decision concerned, since this could not be considered superior
to the national constitution.
A revised version of the Cypriot Constitution entered into force on 28 July 2006. However, the
surrender of its nationals is possible only for acts committed after the date of Cypruss
accession to the European Union (1 May 2004), thus maintaining a distinction between the
treatment of its nationals and that of other citizens of the EU.
58
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
8.
The case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the European
arrest warrant
To date, the European arrest warrant has been the subject of seven decisions of the Court of
Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. Of the seven references for preliminary rulings,
only one concerns the validity of the Framework Decision (the Advocaten voor de wereld case),
while the other three relate to its interpretation. These judgments are briefly discussed below.
8.1.
59
60
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Regarding the question of the compatibility of the Framework Decision with Article 34(2)(b), the
Court stated that the mutual recognition of the arrest warrants issued in the different Member
States in accordance with the law of the issuing State concerned requires the approximation of
the laws and regulations of the Member States with regard to judicial cooperation in criminal
matters and, more specifically, of the rules relating to the conditions, procedures and effects of
surrender as between national authorities 61. It went on to state that there is nothing to justify the
conclusion that the approximation of the laws and regulations of the Member States through the
adoption of framework decisions is directed only at the Member States rules of criminal law, that
is to say, those rules which relate to the constituent elements of criminal offences and the
penalties applicable. It therefore considered that Article 34(2) EU cannot be construed as
meaning that the approximation of the laws and regulations of the Member States by the
adoption of a framework decision cannot relate to areas other than those mentioned in Article
31(1)(e) EU and, in particular, the matter of the European arrest warrant. Regarding the
question of whether the Council should have relied on a convention (pursuant to the principle of
congruent forms), or on a Framework Decision, the Court declared that while it is true that the
European arrest warrant could equally have been the subject of a convention, it is within the
Councils discretion to give preference to the legal instrument of the framework decision in the
case where, as here, the conditions governing the adoption of such a measure are satisfied62.
Regarding the second question on the compatibility of Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision to
the extent that it dispenses with verification of double criminality for the categories of offences
mentioned therein with Article 6(2) EU, the Court first examined its conformity with the principle
of the legality of criminal offences and penalties. Having briefly stated the content of this
principle, the Court pointed out that the Framework Decision does not seek to harmonise the
criminal offences in question in respect of their constituent elements or of the penalties which
they attract. While Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision dispenses with verification of double
criminality for the categories of offences mentioned therein, the definition of those offences and
of the penalties applicable continues to constitute matters determined by the law of the issuing
Member State. It follows, therefore, that the aforesaid Article does not infringe the principle of
the legality of criminal offences and penalties.63
The Court of Justice then examined the compatibility of Article 2(2) with the principle of equality
and non-discrimination. It stated, with regard to the choice of the thirty-two categories of
offences listed, that the Council was able to form the view, on the basis of the principle of
mutual recognition and in the light of the high degree of trust and solidarity between the Member
States, that, whether by reason of their inherent nature or by reason of the punishment incurred
[...], the categories of offences in question feature among those the seriousness of which in
terms of adversely affecting public order and public safety justifies dispensing with the
61
62
63
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
verification of double criminality64. Consequently, according to the Court, even if one were to
assume that the situation of persons suspected of having committed offences featuring on the
list set out in Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision or convicted of having committed such
offences is comparable to the situation of persons suspected of having committed, or convicted
of having committed, offences other than those listed in that provision, the distinction is, in any
event, objectively justified65. Furthermore, with regard to the fact that the lack of precision in the
definition of the categories of offences in question risks giving rise to disparate implementation
of the Framework Decision within the various national legal orders, the Court merely pointed out
that it is not the objective of the Framework Decision to harmonise the substantive criminal law
of the Member States and that nothing in the 3rd pillar of the EU Treaty makes the application of
the European arrest warrant conditional on harmonisation of the criminal laws of the Member
States within the area of the offences in question 66. Consequently, Article 2(2) does not breach
the principle of equality67.
8.2.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Member State against his or her will for the purposes executing a sentence is always
impermissible, whereas extradition of the nationals (on the basis of a European arrest warrant)
of other Member States against their will can be authorised at the discretion of the authorities, is
compatible with Union law, in particular with the principle of non-discrimination and Union
citizenship.
8.2.2 Judgment of the Court of Justice
In its judgment of 17 July 2008, the Court of Justice answered only the first question Having
stated that the definition of the terms staying and resident cannot be left to the assessment of
each Member State but must be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation 69, the Court
explained the procedure to be followed in applying Article 4(6). It distinguished between two
steps: the executing judicial authority must initially ascertain whether the person concerned is a
national or a resident of the executing Member State, or is staying there, within the meaning of
the aforesaid Article. Second, if the executing judicial authority finds that that one of the above
terms applies to the person in question, since that ground for refusal is in theory optional, it must
assess whether there is a legitimate interest that would justify execution of the sentence
imposed in the territory of the executing Member State. With regards to the first step, the Court
explained that a person resides in the executing Member State when he or she has established
his or her actual place of residence there, and that he or she stays there when he or she has
acquired, following a stable period of presence in that State, certain connections with that State
which are of a similar degree to those resulting from residence 70. Since Szymon Kozlowski was
not resident in Germany, it need only be established whether he was staying there. In order to
determine this, according to the Court, it is necessary to make an overall assessment of various
objective factors characterising the situation of the requested person, which include, in
particular, the length, nature and conditions of his presence and the family and economic
connections which he has with the executing Member State71. According to the Court, in the light
of various factors referred to by the national court as characterising the situation of Mr
Kozlowski, in particular the length and conditions of his stay, the absence of family ties and his
very weak economic connections with Germany, he cannot be regarded as covered by the term
staying within the meaning of Article 4(6) of the Framework Decision72.
69
70
71
72
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
8.3.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
arrest warrant came into force or on the possibility of this Member State making use of them in
its relations with other Member States. Moreover, as stated in Article 31(1), the fact that the
European arrest warrant in principle replaces the earlier conventions does not entail the
abolition of those conventions. These conventions continue to apply where a Member State,
such as France, has restricted the temporal scope of the European arrest warrant, and in other
situations where the European arrest warrant system would not be applicable 75. The CJEU
concluded that Articles 31 and 32 of the Framework Decision refer to distinct situations which
are mutually exclusive. While Article 31 deals with the consequences of the application of the
European arrest warrant system for international conventions in the field of extradition, Article 32
envisages a situation in which that system does not apply. Consequently, Article 31 of the
Framework Decision must be interpreted as referring only to the situation in which the European
arrest warrant system is applicable, which is not the case where a request for extradition relates
to acts committed before a date specified by a Member State in a statement made pursuant to
Article 32 of the Framework Decision76.
With regard to the second question, concerning the effect of pre-existing instruments, the
objective of enhancing judicial cooperation and the need to avoid a legal vacuum, the Court
concluded that, where the European arrest warrant system is not applicable, Article 32 of the
Framework Decision does not oppose application by an executing Member State of an
extradition convention such as the 1996 Convention, even if this only became applicable after
1st January 200477.
8.4.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
concerning the interpretation of Article 27(2) to (4) of the Framework Decision on the European
arrest warrant, in its provisions relating to the principle of speciality.
8.4.2 Judgment of the Court of Justice
In its judgment of 1st December 2008, the Court began by examining the first question in order
to identify the relevant criteria for determining whether the surrendered person is being
prosecuted for an offence other than that for which the person was surrendered within the
meaning of Article 27(2) of the Framework Decision, requiring implementation of the consent
procedure referred to in Article 27(3)(g) and 27(4). On the basis of the Framework Decisions
aims of speeding up and simplifying judicial cooperation between the Member States, the Court
answered this first question by advocating a degree of flexibility. Accordingly, it held that the
description of the offence in the European arrest warrant must be compared with that in the later
procedural document, and that it must be ascertained whether the constituent elements of the
offence, according to the legal description given by the issuing State, are those for which the
person was surrendered and whether there is sufficient correspondence between the
information given in the arrest warrant and that contained in the later procedural document.
Modifications concerning the time or place of the offence are allowed, in so far as they derive
from evidence gathered in the course of the proceedings conducted in the issuing State
concerning the conduct described in the arrest warrant, do not alter the nature of the offence
and do not lead to grounds for non-execution under Articles 3 and 4 of the Framework
Decision79.
The Court of Justice then turned its attention to the second question, namely whether a
modification of the description of the offence, concerning only the kind of narcotics in question
and not changing the legal classification of the offence, is such as to define an offence other
than that for which the person was surrendered within the meaning of Article 27(2) of the
Framework Decision, and makes it necessary to have recourse to the consent procedure
referred to in Article 27(3)(g) and 27(4). The Court dealt with this question swiftly, holding that, in
circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, a modification of the description of the
offence concerning the kind of narcotics concerned is not such, of itself, as to define an offence
other than that for which the person was surrendered. However, the offence concerned is still
punishable by imprisonment for a maximum period of at least three years and comes under the
rubric illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs in Article 2(2) of the Framework Decision80.
Finally, even though it does not arise unless an offence other than the one for which a person
has been surrendered has been referred to the competent judicial authorities, the third question
was examined by the Court of Justice. This question seeks to determine how the exception to
the specialty rule in Article 27(3)(c) of the Framework Decision should be interpreted, taking into
account the consent procedure laid down in Article 27(4) of the Framework Decision. In
79
80
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
particular, it asks whether those provisions permit a person to be prosecuted and sentenced for
an offence other than that for which he was surrendered, requiring the consent of the executing
Member State, before that consent has been received, in so far as his liberty is not restricted. It
also asks whether the fact that the person concerned is, in addition, detained on the basis of
other charges providing a lawful basis for his detention affects the possibility of prosecuting and
sentencing him for that other offence. Under consideration, the Court answered that the
exception provided for in Article 27(3)(c) of the Framework Decision must be interpreted as
meaning that, where there is an offence other than that for which the person was surrendered,
consent must be requested, in accordance with Article 27(4) of the Framework Decision, and
obtained if a penalty or a measure involving the deprivation of liberty is to be executed. The
person surrendered can be prosecuted and sentenced for such an offence before that consent
has been obtained, provided that no measure restricting liberty is applied during the prosecution
or when judgment is given for that offence. The exception in Article 27(3)(c) does not, however,
preclude a measure restricting liberty from being imposed on the person surrendered before
consent has been obtained, where that restriction is lawful on the basis of other charges which
appear in the European arrest warrant81.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Furthermore, the provision of Belgian law whereby surrender for the purposes of prosecution
can be subject to the condition that person be returned to Belgium after being heard was not
applicable either, because Article 7 of the Belgian law provides that an arrest warrant based on
a judgment rendered in absentia is considered as having been issued for the purposes of
executing a sentence. The Court consequently referred to the Constitutional Court the question
of whether these provisions were compatible with constitutional provisions relating to the
principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination. The Court, holding that the Belgian law
merely sought to implement the FD on the European arrest warrant, decided to ask the CJEU
the question of whether a European arrest warrant based on a judgment in absentia imposed
under these conditions should not be considered a warrant issued for the purposes of executing
a sentence within the meaning of Article 4(6) of the FD, but an arrest warrant for the purposes of
prosecution within the meaning of Article 5(3). If this was not the case, the Court asked whether
these provisions should be interpreted as not permitting the surrender to be subject to the
persons return to Belgium in such circumstances and, conversely, whether they contravened
the principle of equal treatment enshrined in Article 6(2) TEU. Finally, if the answer to the 1 st
question was negative, the Court asked whether the provisions of the FD enumerating the
grounds for refusal prevented the warrant from being executed if there were valid grounds for
believing that its execution would have the effect of infringing the fundamental rights of the
person concerned, as enshrined by Article 6(2) TEU.
8.4.4 Judgment of the Court of Justice
The Court noted, firstly, that the application for refugee status could have no bearing on the
answers to the questions referred by the referring court 87. Later, recalling that the aim of Articles
4(6) and 5(3) of the FD is to place particular importance on the possibility of increasing the
chances of the requested persons social reintegration, it deemed that there is nothing to
indicate that the European Union legislator wished to exclude requested persons from that aim
on the basis of a sentence rendered in absentia. It instead concluded that the situation of a
person who has been sentenced in absentia and to whom it is still open to apply for a retrial is
comparable to that of a person who is the subject of a European arrest warrant for the purposes
of prosecution, and that there is no objective reason preventing an executing judicial authority
which has applied Article 5(1) of Framework Decision 2002/584 from applying the condition
contained in Article 5(3) of that Framework Decision. Such an interpretation is also the only one
that, currently, offers a real possibility of reintegrating into society 88. This conclusion meant that
the court did not answer the last two questions submitted by the referring court.
2 MANTELLO CASE89
87
88
89
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
determined by the law of the Member State where this judgment was delivered 92. Therefore,
since the Oberlandsgericht requested information from the issuing authority regarding the final
nature of the November 2005 decision in respect of the alleged acts in the new proceedings,
and received a negative response, it must draw the appropriate conclusions from the
assessments made by the issuing judicial authority in its response93.
8.5.
8.5.1
Legal background
The application was made by the Korkein oikeus in a case involving three successive arrest
warrants. The requested person had initially been surrendered by the British authorities to
Hungary, where Mr West was sentenced for theft and destruction of ancient works of great
value. The UK granted its consent, pursuant to Article 28(3) of the FD on the EAW, to Mr Wests
surrender from Hungary to Finland, where he had been convicted of similar offences. The
Finnish authorities then wished to execute an EAW issued by FR, where he had been convicted
of acts of theft at the French national library. HU gave its consent, but the UK was silent. The
Korkein oikeus questioned the objective pursued by this provision of Article 28(3) and the issue
of whether the UK retained its right to consent even after Mr West was surrendered by HU to
FIN.
8.8.2. Judgment of the Court of Justice
The Court considered it appropriate to consider the wording of the provision and the objective
pursued by the DC. With regards to that wording, it observed that the term executing Member
State is used repeatedly in Article 28 and that its meaning is the same every time: it is the
Member State which executed the European arrest warrant on the basis of which the person
concerned was surrendered to that issuing Member State and which confers on the latter the
power to surrender that person, as executing Member State, to another Member State 95. As to
the objective pursued, it is to facilitate and accelerate judicial cooperation. Requiring consent
from both the first and the second executing MS could complicate the execution of an EAW, for
example, by generating multiple requests for supplementary information, or may increase the
possibility of divergent decisions96. Only requiring the consent of the first executing MS would
92
93
94
95
96
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
achieve the objective of simplicity, but this MS could in any case refuse execution of the first
EAW or the first subsequent surrender, for example to invoke Articles 4(6), and 5(3) of the FD
for the benefit of a person who is a national or resident of that State 97. Furthermore, a direct and
immediate relationship between the second and third executing MS is (more) likely to facilitate
judicial cooperation between those two MS 98. The Court concluded that Article 28(2) of the
Framework Decision must be interpreted as meaning that, where a person has been subject to
more than one surrender between Member States pursuant to successive European arrest
warrants, the subsequent surrender of that person to a Member State other than the Member
State having last surrendered him is subject to the consent only of the Member State which
carried out that last surrender99.
8.6.
The question for preliminary ruling was referred by Amiens Court of Appeal, which had to rule on
the execution of an EAW issued by the court of Lisbon against a Portuguese national residing in
France, where he had got married, for the purposes of serving a 5-year prison sentence for
drugs trafficking. The French implementing law provides that the execution of an EAW may be
refused if the person is of French nationality and the French authorities undertake to execute
the sentence themselves. Mr Lopes Da Silva argued that his surrender to the Portuguese
authorities would disproportionately infringe his right to respect for private life, and that the
provision in question, insofar this right to refuse surrender is available only to French nationals,
was an incorrect implementation of the FD and, additionally, discriminatory contrary to Article 18
TFEU. For its part, FR argued that the grounds provided for in Article 4(6) of the FD were
optional, and also subject to the undertaking to execute the sentence itself under domestic law.
However, French law did not at the time provide for an undertaking to execute a sentence
handed down against a non-national, since FR had not ratified the convention of 28 May 1970
on the international validity of criminal judgments, nor that of 13 November 1991 on the
enforcement of foreign criminal sentences, and had not yet implemented FD 2008/909/JHA on
the mutual recognition of custodial sentences.
8.9.2.
The Court first noted that MS have some margin of discretion in implementing Article 4(6) of the
FD and that an executing Member State may only legitimately pursue such an objective with
regards to persons who have demonstrated some degree of integration into the society of that
97
98
99
100
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
State101. Furthermore, it underlined that in implementing this provision into their domestic law,
they are required to comply with Article 18 TFEU, and that under these conditions it cannot be
accepted that a requested person who is not a national of the executing Member State but who
has stayed or resided there for a certain period would never be likely to have established any
binding connections with that State that could justify invoking this ground for optional nonexecution102. It further stated that although Article 3(1) a) of the Convention on the Transfer of
Sentenced Persons allows a State that is a party to that convention to limit to its own nationals
the possibility of a sentence imposed in another State being enforced within its territory, neither
that convention nor any other rule of international law requires those States to make provision
for such a rule103. Therefore, the alleged impossibility of undertaking to execute the sentence
handed down against a non-national cannot justify discriminatory treatment: although a Member
State may, in transposing Article 4(6), decide to limit the situations in which its executing judicial
authority may refuse to surrender a person who falls within the scope of that provision thereby
reinforcing the system of surrender in accordance with the principle of mutual recognition it
cannot exclude automatically and absolutely the nationals of other Member States staying or
resident in its territory, irrespective of their connections with it 104. In application of the principle of
conforming interpretation, the referring court must also take into consideration the principles and
provisions of domestic law governing the conclusions a court is entitled to draw from the
existence of discrimination prohibited under that law, and in particular those that allow that court
to alleviate such discrimination until the legislature has taken the measures necessary to
eliminate it105.
101
102
103
104
105
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
9.
9.1.
Practical tips
AS AN EXECUTING AUTHORITY
What should you do when faced with a national implementing law that is not in
conformity with the Framework Decision of 13 June 2002? Try, pursuant to the caselaw of the Court of Justice in the Pupino106 case, to apply it as consistently as
possible with the spirit and letter of the EU instrument. It may be necessary to stay
proceedings and refer a question for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of
the European Union so that it can interpret the Framework Decision. Where
appropriate, its response should enable you to draw the relevant conclusions
domestically. Note, however, that a preliminary ruling procedure before the CJEU
lasts an average of 20 months. This is one of the reasons why so few references for
preliminary rulings have been made to the Court. Due to growing awareness of this
within the EU, and indeed within the CJEU itself, an urgent preliminary ruling (PPU)
procedure has been established. The PPU has been effective since 1 st March 2008
(see Module 3).
What should you do if you receive a European arrest warrant issued by an issuing
authority within a Member State that shows a lack of confidence towards or is
reluctant comply with the Framework Decision? Do not apply the principle of
reciprocity! Its existence is now redundant within the European Union. It goes
against the principle of mutual recognition and the case-law of the Court of Justice of
the European Union in the Pupino case. One good example to follow is the approach
adopted by the Portuguese Supreme Court, which upheld a judgment of Evora Court
of Appeal granting the surrender of a Portuguese national to the Spanish authorities
for the purposes of enforcing a three-year prison sentence. Even though it
recognised that, if the situation were reversed, the Spanish authorities would not
have surrendered their national to the Portuguese authorities, the Portuguese court
took the view that absence of reciprocity cannot be an obstacle to cooperation within
the European Union107.
9.2.
AS AN ISSUING AUTHORITY
What should you do when faced with an executing authority that is not complying with
the Framework Decision?
If it is an isolated case, the first step should be to try to resolve the problem through
direct contact with the executing judicial authority. If this direct contact proves
unsuccessful, the European Judicial Network contact points can be approached.
Where appropriate, the central authorities of the executing State, where these are
represented among the contact points, will be notified. If this fails, the national
106
107
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
member of Eurojust can be approached and, if this still does not work, the College of
Eurojust can be called upon.
If the problems recur, it may be appropriate to refer the matter to your government,
which will be able to notify and discuss the problems direct with the executing
government. One solution to this may be to organise bilateral meetings. If this also
fails, the government may notify the institutions responsible for evaluations about the
problematic situation (the Commission and the Council).
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
10.
Case studies
Questions
1. Could a Mitterrand doctrine still be conceivable in the current framework of the
European Union?
The European arrest warrant overhauls the traditional extradition procedure: it has
judicialised it, eliminating the political phase the government intervention phase
characteristic of the conventional procedure and in principle it no longer allows any
political interference in the processing and execution of surrender requests on the basis of a
European arrest warrant. It must therefore be concluded that a policy such as the
Mitterrand doctrine could no longer be conceivable in the current framework of judicial
cooperation between the Member States of the European Union.
2. Could the Italian authorities have issued a European arrest warrant to circumvent the
application of the Mitterrand doctrine?
France made use of the option available pursuant to Article 32 of the Framework Decision on
the European arrest warrant and declared that this would not be applicable in relations with
France, for acts committed before 1993. One of the reasons for this declaration was specifically
to prevent old cases of this kind from falling within the scope of the European arrest warrant.
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Questions:
1. What should have been the Portuguese courts decision if the request for Rezalas
surrender had been based on a European arrest warrant?
In the current framework of the European arrest warrant, there is no option for the
executing State, in this case Portugal, to reject a request for surrender on the
grounds that the national law of the issuing Member State (France) provides for a
life sentence or lifetime imprisonment in its legislation. Nevertheless, as provided
for by Article 5.2 of the Framework Decision, the Portuguese authorities may make it
a condition of the surrender that the person is entitled to a periodic review of his
personal situation that might allow a revision of the penalty imposed this can either
be on request or at the latest after 20 years of the sentence or for the application
of measures of clemency provided for in the issuing Member State.
Case study 3
On 25 February 2003, A left Albania and illegally docked in Italy on a boat owned by his brotherin-law B, who had Italian nationality. The boat was intercepted by an Italian Customs patrol. A
was sent back to Albania. B was charged in Italy with facilitation of unauthorised entry and
residence. B left Italy before being arrested.
An Italian court issued a European arrest warrant against B.
Questions:
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
B has been arrested by the Belgian Police on the basis of the European arrest warrant. Under
Belgian law, facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence is a criminal offence only if the act
has been committed for profit, a limitation authorised by the FD on the facilitation of
unauthorised entry and residence109. There is nothing to indicate that this is the case here.
Questions:
1. What approach should a Belgian investigating court adopt regarding the request for
surrender to the Italian authorities?
In accordance with Article 2.2 of the Framework Decision, the traditional requirement of
double criminality has been abolished for 32 categories of offence exhaustively enumerated,
provided that these offences are punishable in the issuing Member State by a penalty of a
maximum period of at least 3 years. Accordingly, European arrest warrants issued for
alleged or proven offences included in that list must be executed by the arresting State
without verification of criminality in that State. The only verification will be the minimum
threshold of the requested penalty. For offences other than these, double criminality may be
verified and surrender may be subject to the condition that the acts for which the European
arrest warrant has been issued constitute an offence under the law of the executing
Member State (Article 2.4 of the Framework Directive).
In the case in question, facilitation of unauthorised entry and residence is included in the list
of offences for which the double criminality requirement has been abolished, provided it is
punishable by a maximum period of at least 3 years in IT (issuing MS). This information
must be stated in the EAW (box c) of the form). The Belgian investigating judge cannot
therefore refuse execution of the European arrest warrant on this basis.
2. Would it be different if the boat had docked in Greece (where Italy has been informed and
is prosecuting B on the basis of active nationality jurisdiction, since B has Italian
nationality)?
Article 4.7 of the Framework Decision states that grounds for optional refusal may be based
on the territoriality clause. It states that execution of the arrest warrant may be refused
where it relates to offences which: (a) are regarded by the law of the executing Member
State as having been committed in whole or in part in the territory of the executing Member
State or in a place treated as such; or (b) have been committed outside the territory of the
issuing Member State and the law of the executing Member State does not allow
prosecution for the same offences when committed outside its territory.
109
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
In this case study, the 1st scenario would not be applicable, since the offence was not
committed in Belgium (the executing State). As regards the 2nd scenario, since the acts were
committed in Greece, it should be verified whether Belgian law authorises prosecution for
the same offences committed outside its territory, which is probably not the case, since the
offence was not committed for profit.
Case study 4
A Belgian court issued a European arrest warrant against X in a fraud case. The Italian court
refused to execute the EAW on the basis of its implementing law, which states that the warrant
cannot be executed if the law of the issuing State does not provide for a fixed time limit for pretrial detention.
Questions
1. What do you think of this ground for refusal?
This ground is not one of the grounds for refusal authorised by the FD. Italian law is
inconsistent with the EU instrument. The case-law of the House of Lords, which set
aside the requirements of national law not provided for by the FD, is an instructive
example.110.
2. What is the Italian courts margin of manoeuvre?
The Italian court should ensure that the requirements of its legislation are interpreted as
consistently as possible with the provisions of the FD 111. It could make inquiries with the
Belgian issuing authority regarding the conditions under which a period of pre-trial
detention is extended and seek guarantees of review from its counterpart. It could ask
the CJEU whether the FD can be interpreted as authorising refusal to execute an EAW
when the law of the issuing country does not fix a time limit for pre-trial detention.
Case study 5
X, residing in Brussels, is a suspect in a case that is under investigation in Austria. On 15
September 2006, the competent court in Vienna rejected the prosecutor's request to place X in
110
111
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
pre-trial detention during the investigation. The prosecutor filed an appeal against this decision
and obtained a new decision on 28 September 2006 granting the request for pre-trial detention.
During the appeal process, X was not consulted: this was not provided for by the Code of
Criminal Procedure at the time. However, it was generally accepted in Austria that this provision
should be amended, and a new law was adopted on 15 November of the same year. In addition,
evidence provided suggested that X was considered guilty even before the trial, and that the
investigating judge was the same person who acted as prosecutor.
An Austrian judge issued an EAW against X and sent it to the prosecutor in Brussels, where X
was arrested. The competent court took the decision to execute the EAW. X appealed against
this decision and applied for non-execution on the basis of Article 5(4) of the Belgian
implementing law, which provides that execution of an EAW must be refused if there are valid
grounds for believing that the European arrest warrant would have the effect of infringing the
fundamental rights of the person concerned, as enshrined by Article 6 of the Treaty on
European Union. The indictments chamber in Brussels agreed with the defendants reasoning
and decided not to execute the EAW.
Question
1. What do you think of this ground for refusal?
The FD contains no explicit ground for refusal relating to fundamental rights. Recital
12 mentions this, but is not part of the instrument itself. However, most Member
States have introduced a clause similar to that contained in Article 4(5) of the
Belgian law. In practice, this amounts to a strong presumption that fundamental
rights are de facto respected in all Member States: it must nevertheless be
questioned whether, firstly, the court of the executing Member State is well placed to
assess potential infringements (is there convincing evidence that this is not the case
here?), and secondly whether any infringements can be corrected in the issuing
Member State112.
Case study 6
X was charged with drug trafficking in Italy, where the acts, committed in February 2006, are
punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years. A court in Rome decided in March 2008 to issue
an EAW against X. Checking the database for ongoing proceedings, it found that X had also
been charged with a speeding offence punishable by up to 6 months. It decided to insert the two
offences in the EAW. X lives in Nicosia (CY). The court issuing the warrant sent it to the Cypriot
Central Authority, the Ministry of Justice. The central authority sent additional requests to the
issuing authority concerning the following questions:
- why has such a long time elapsed between the acts and the EAW?
112
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Case study 7
During a police operation at a nightclub in Warsaw, X is found in possession of 0.5 grams of
cannabis. He is charged with possession of illegal drugs. In PL, the maximum penalty for this
offence is two years in prison. X, who lives in Hamburg (DE), is not arrested but does not
respond to summons during the investigations. At the request of the prosecutor of Warsaw, a
Polish court issues an EAW and transmits it to the judicial authorities of Hamburg. The
competent prosecutor in Hamburg refuses to execute the warrant on the grounds that EAW
would never be issued in DE for acts of this magnitude, based on the principle of proportionality.
Question
1. Is this decision of refusal consistent with the FD?
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
Refusal may be based on the fact that these acts would not be punishable in DE, if on
the one hand the EAW is not issued for drug trafficking, but mere possession. Even if it
was for drug trafficking, the penalty would be less than three years, which does not meet
the condition whereby the offences included in the categories listed in Article 2 of the FD
are not subject to verification of double criminality. However, the executing authority
does not have to carry out a review of proportionality, even though it is recommended
that issuing authorities review whether or not an EAW should be issued from the
perspective of proportionality.
2. What other approach could the German prosecutor have adopted?
The German prosecutor could propose that X be heard in Germany.
Case study 8: the Assange case
In August 2010, Swedish police questioned J. Assange in connection with a complaint of rape
and sexual violence. He was not arrested and left the country for the United Kingdom, unaware
that an EAW had been issued against him by the Swedish prosecutor and transmitted to the
British central authority. The warrant concerns, inter alia, rape (described as sexual intercourse
while the victim was asleep) and sexual violence (described as having unprotected sex without
the consent of the partner).
J. Assange responded to the summons from the competent court, which ordered his extradition
(i.e. execution of the EAW; UK law has retained the old terminology). On appeal, J. Assange
argued that (1) the EAW was not issued by a judicial authority, (2) that the acts as described do
not correspond to the classifications used, (3) there is not yet any formal charge against him, (4)
that, in any event, his surrender for such acts would be disproportionate.
Questions
1. Could J. Assange be tried in the United Kingdom?
Yes, but the executing authority cannot impose this on the issuing authority as an
alternative to execution of the EAW and surrender.
2. What should we make of the arguments of the defence?
It is for each Member State to designate the issuing authorities, but these must be
judicial authorities. Although several Member States do not have prosecutors, their
status as a judicial authority independent of the executive power should not be
challenged. Rape is one of the categories of offence where verification of double
criminality is not required, provided that it is punishable in the issuing Member State by
a maximum sentence of at least 3 years: it does not fall to the English court in this case
MODULE 8 THE EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND THE SURRENDER PROCEDURE VERSION 3.0
to challenge the classification ascribed by the issuing authority. However, it may verify
whether the act described as sexual violence would also be punishable in the UK.
Nevertheless, it does not fall to the English court to examine whether these acts are
proven. The requirement that the requested person must already have accused status
is an addition IN the UKs implementing law that is not found in the FD. It should at least
not afford it too strict an interpretation, which would inhibit the cooperation sought by
the FD. The argument that the measure is disproportionate is not a ground for refusal
either in the FD or in the implementing law in the UK.
The appeal was dismissed in July 2011 and on 30 May 2012, the decision to execute and
surrender was upheld by the Supreme Court, which granted an additional two weeks for
reopening the appeal on the basis of any new evidence submitted by the defence. On 14 June,
this 2-week period expired and the appeal was not reopened. A few days later, J. Assange left
the home where he had been placed under house arrest and took refuge at the Ecuadorian
Embassy. He feared that Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where he could be
prosecuted for espionage.
3. Could Sweden extradite J. Assange to the United States without the consent of the
UK? What would be the competent authority in the UK for granting its consent?
According to Article 28 of the FD, a person who has been surrendered pursuant to a
European arrest warrant shall not be extradited to a third State without the consent of
the competent authority of the Member State which surrendered the person. This
consent is given in accordance with the Conventions by which that Member State is
bound, as well as its domestic law. This would not, therefore, be the judicial authority
executing the EAW, but in all likelihood the Minister of Justice. Note that an agreement
on extradition between EU MS and the US113 entered into force on 1st February 2009
and the bilateral agreements between the MS and the US have been amended
accordingly.
The contents and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the EJTN, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of these
contents and opinions.
113