| European Arrest Warrant |
Article Index for European |
Website Links For European |
Information AboutEuropean Arrest Warrant |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT | |
| criminal law by country | |
| warrants | |
|
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW, or more rarely, EUAW) is an Arrest Warrant to allow the arrest of criminal suspects and their transfer for trial or detention which is valid throughout the states of the European Union (EU). The EAW is an attempt to increase the speed of Extradition throughout EU countries, as well as change the mechanism from having a "political and administrative phase" into a system run by the Judiciary . The United Kingdom Home Office has defined it as a {Link without Title} : :''"common arrest and surrender warrant designed to provide efficient and effective justice within the EU, whilst protecting the rights of defendants and victims." PRINCIPLES OF THE EAW The EAW is a judicial judgment by a court of the member state for the arrest or surrender of a requested person that is in another member state. It is designed to meet the needs of justice, liberty and security within a single region. This can only be for the purposes of:
The EAW only applies to criminal acts where the sentence is at least 1 year long. It can also be applied for custodial sentences which are at least 4 months long. HISTORY OF LEGISLATION AND IMPLEMENTATION BY MEMBER STATES The basis of the EAW was agreed 'in principle' by member states of the EU at the 2003 , with the deadline for final implementation by member states to be December 31 2003 . The legislation for the EAW came into force for 8 of the then 15 EU countries on January 1 2004 , with the remaining 7 countries missing the deadline. The EAW was active in the following countries by the implementation date: USE OF THE EAW The first reported use of the EAW was in January 2004 when a Swedish suspect was arrested in Spain and extradited back to Sweden {Link without Title} . The EAW was also in the media due to a ruling in , one of the suspects in the 21 July 2005 London Bombings , back to Britain from Italy. EAW were also issued by Italian prosecutor Guido Salvini in 2005 against 22 CIA agents accused of the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr ('' Imam Rapito '' affair). The EAW has also been used in a way which, according to the Council Of The European Union , does not respect the Principle Of Proportionality included in article 5 of the Treaty Establishing The European Community . In particular, EAW have been issued in such minor cases as detention of 0.45 grams of Cannabis ; detention of 1,5 gram of Marijuana ; detention of 0.15 gram of Heroin ; detention of 3 Ecstasy tablets; theft of two car tyres; driving a car under the influence of alcohol, where the limit was not significantly exceeded (0.81 mg/l) or theft of a piglet Council Of The European Union , Proposed subject for discussion at the experts' meeting on the application of the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant on 17 July 2007 - the proportionality principle . REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|