Specialty
A state wishing to prosecute a surrendered person for offences committed before his or her surrender, or extradite a surrendered person to a third state, must, subject to certain exception, obtain the permission of the executing judicial authority. Such a request is made in the same form as a European Arrest Warrant, and granted or refused using the same rules which determine whether surrender would be granted or refused.
This requirement is referred to as the principle of specialty and is intended to ensure that a state cannot seek the surrender of a person for an extraditable offence whilst intending to prosecute that person for a non-extraditable offence once surrendered, or extradite the surrendered person to a third state for an offence which would not have been extraditable offence from the original executing state.
By default the principle of specialty applies to all persons surrendered pursuant to a European Arrest Warrant unless the executing judicial authority indicates otherwise. However this position may be reversed where both the issuing and the executing states have made declarations to that effect.
The permission of the executing state is not required:
- for offences which could not incur custodial sentences, or which could only incur them as a result of the failure to pay a fine,
- where the surrender person was discharged from custody and having had the opportunity to leave that state (i.e. the original issuing state) remained there for 45 days, or left that state only to return,
- the surrendered person renounced his or her right to specialty either before or after his or her surrender,
- where the person is sought by another state pursuant to a European Arrest Warrant and consents to being surrendered to that state.
Read more about this topic: European Arrest Warrant
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