A Practical Guide to Extradition Law Post-Brexit

On 24th December 2020, just one week before the end of the transition period, the EU and UK brokered an agreement governing extradition between the UK and the Member States. That agreement is contained in Part 3 of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (‘the TCA’), at Title VII, and applies to those who are arrested after 2300 on 31st December 2020.

The TCA substantially replicates the Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA, but this is not to say that extradition to EU Member States will continue almost unchanged. There are some important and potentially radical differences between the wording of the two schemes, and the potential impact of the change in legal context should not be underestimated.

In ‘A Practical Guide to Extradition Law Post-Brexit’, the members of Temple Garden Chambers’ extradition team provide a guide to the operation of Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 (‘the 2003 Act’) in this new era, highlighting areas of likely continuity and change. They also introduce practitioners to cases under Part 2 of the 2003 Act, giving a clear and concise explanation of the procedural and substantive differences between the two regimes.

“This book is timely, and practitioners will find it of great use … it is well-researched, well-expressed, easy to follow and practical in its focus … I commend it to all lawyers in the field.”
– from the Foreword by the Right Honourable Sir Stephen Irwin

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

The Temple Garden Chambers extradition team bring an unrivalled wealth of experience prosecuting and defending extradition cases at all levels from the Magistrates’ Court to the Supreme Court and the CJEU. Team members are highly ranked in Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. Drawing on complementary expertise in domestic public law and international criminal law, they are excellently placed to guide you through the UK’s extradition law and practice post-Brexit.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter One – The Initial Hearing
-Arrest under certified request/warrant
-Provisional arrest
-Requirements at the Initial Hearing
-Consent to extradition
-Case management
-Bail
-Outstanding domestic proceedings/sentence
-Competing requests
-Legal aid

Chapter Two – The Extradition Hearing
-District Judge’s powers
-Initial stages of the Extradition Hearing
-Sufficiency of particulars
-Identity (Part 2)
-Whether the warrant was issued by a Judicial Authority (Part 1)
-Extradition offence
-Prima facie case (selected Part 2 countries)
-Receivable evidence
-Disclosure
-Asylum claims
-Procedure at the Extradition Hearing
-Sending a case to the SSHD (Part 2)
-Bail pending prosecution appeal
-Costs

Chapter Three – Bars to Extradition
-Double Jeopardy
-Absence of prosecution decision
-Extraneous Considerations
-Passage of time
-Age
-Hostage Taking considerations
-Specialty
-Earlier extradition to the United Kingdom
-Forum
-Convictions in absentia
-Section 21 – Person unlawfully at large: human rights
-Section 21A, Person not convicted: human rights and proportionality
-Section 21B requests
-Physical or Mental condition
-Abuse of Process

Chapter Four – Human Rights
-Introduction
-Article 2 ECHR
-Article 3 ECHR
-Article 5 ECHR
-Article 6 ECHR
-Article 8 ECHR

Chapter Five – The Secretary of State’s Role
-Certification
-Death penalty
-Specialty
-Earlier extradition to the United Kingdom
-Deferral of extradition
-Competing claims
-Time limits

Chapter Six – Appeals
-Appeals by Requested Persons
-Appeals by Requesting States
-New issues and fresh evidence on appeal
-Practical matters
-Appeal to the Supreme Court
-Appeal to the ECtHR
-Challenges outside the statutory appeals scheme
-After extradition is ordered