Home Office
Extradition is the formal process where one country asks another to return a person in order to stand trial or to serve a sentence. Under multilateral conventions and bilateral extradition treaties the UK has extradition relations with over 100 territories around the world.
Even if the UK has no extradition arrangement or treaty with a particular territory, it may still be possible or for that territory to make an extradition request to the UK. Incoming requests are made to the UKCA. The Secretary of State then decides whether to enter into special extradition arrangements.
Extradition from the UK: category 1 territories
Extradition and the UKs exit from the European Union
Following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020, the UK is no longer part of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) framework. A new agreement between the UK and the European Union (EU) which allows for streamlined extradition warrant-based arrangements (similar to the EUs surrender agreement with Norway and Iceland) came into effect on 1 January 2021.
The following transitional arrangements are in place for existing EAW cases:
-
Article 62 of the Withdrawal Agreement applies to existing EAWs, where an arrest has already taken place on an EAW before 11pm on 31 December 2020. In these cases, the extradition process will continue to follow the EAW framework.
-
The rules for EAWs issued before the end of the Transition Period where no arrest has taken place are set out in Title VII (Surrender) of the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement. If an EAW has been issued but no arrest has been made, it will constitute a valid warrant under the new arrangements.
Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 (the 2003 Act), and the 2003 Act as amended by the Future Relationship Act, implements the EAW and the arrangements under Title VII (Surrender) of the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
These Agreements apply to extradition between the following territories (designated as category 1 territories under the 2003 Act):
Category 1 territories
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
The process for extradition from the UK to these territories follows these steps:
- a warrant is submitted by the requesting state (usually electronically, via Interpol)
- certificate is issued by the relevant UK authority (after a proportionality test is applied)
- arrest
- initial hearing
- extradition hearing
In urgent cases a requested person (the person a country is requesting be surrendered for prosecution or for punishment) can be arrested before the receipt of a warrant. The warrant must be received in time for a court hearing, which must be held within 48 hours of the arrest.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is the designated authority for category 1 cases.
Issuing a certificate
The NCA can only issue a certificate if the requirements of section 2 of the 2003 Act are met (including a proportionality test). Once issued the requested person can then be arrested and, once arrested, must be brought before a district judge at the magistrates court (or in Scotland, a sheriff at the sheriffs court) as soon as practicable.
Initial hearing
At the initial hearing the judge must:
- confirm the identity of the requested person (ie that the person brought before him or her is the person named on the warrant)
- inform the person about the procedures for consenting to his or her extradition
- fix a date for the extradition hearing if the requested person does not to consent to his or her extradition
Extradition hearing
The extradition hearing should normally begin within 21 days of arrest.
The judge must be satisfied that the conduct described in the warrant amounts to an extradition offence (including, in almost all cases, the requirement that the conduct would amount to a criminal offence were it to have occurred in the UK, and minimum levels of severity of punishment), and that none of the statutory bars to extradition apply. These bars are:
- rule against double jeopardy
- the absence of a prosecution decision (whether the prosecution case against the accused is sufficiently advanced)
- extraneous considerations (whether the request for extradition is improperly motivated)
- passage of time
- the requested persons age
- speciality (the requested person must only be dealt with in the requested state for the offences for which they have been extradited)
- onward extradition (where the requested person has previously been extradited to the UK from a third county, and consent for onward extradition from that country is required but has not been forthcoming)
- forum (whether it would be more appropriate for the requested person to be prosecuted in the UK instead)
If none of the bars apply, the judge must next decide if extradition would be disproportionate or would be incompatible with the requested persons human rights. If the judge decides it would be both proportionate and compatible, extradition must be ordered.
Appeals: High Court (High Court of Justiciary in Scotland)
If either the requested person or the requested state to the extradition proceedings is unhappy with the judges decision at the extradition hearing, they may ask the High Court for leave (permission) to appeal.
An application for permission to appeal must be made within 7 days of the relevant decision being made (i.e. an order for extradition or an order discharging the extradition case against the requested person). If the High Court grants permission, it will go on to consider the appeal.
If the High Court allows an appeal brought by the requested person, it will quash the order for extradition and order the persons discharge. If the High Court allows an appeal brought by the requesting state, it will quash the order discharging the person and will send the case back to the magistrates or sheriffs court for a new decision to be taken.
Appeals: Supreme Court
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, a party who is unhappy with the decision of the High Court on appeal can ask for permission for a further, final appeal to the Supreme Court. Permission can either be given by the High Court or by the Supreme Court itself. An appeal to the Supreme Court can only be made where the case involves a point of law of general public importance. If permission is granted, the Supreme Court will hear the appeal.
For Scottish cases, the Supreme Court will only hear an extradition case where it involves a devolution issue.
Surrender of a requested person
The person should normally be extradited within 10 days of the final court order. This time limit can be extended in exceptional circumstances.
Extradition from the UK: category 2 territories
Part 2 of the 2003 Act applies to territories with whom the UK has formal arrangements through the European Convention on Extradition, the Commonwealth Scheme or a bilateral treaty. These territories are separated into two types, A & B. Type A countries are not required to provide prima facie evidence in support of their requests for extradition, whilst those in Type B are still required to do so.
Category 2 countries should use the Submit an extradition request service to send their request to the UKCA. Using the online service reduces the risk of delays, as it collects all the information we need to consider and carry out your request.
If you are unable to use the online service, you can email your request to extraditioncasework@homeoffice.gov.uk.
The category 2 territories are: