European Arrest Warrant

The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is an arrest warrant valid throughout all member states of the European Union (EU). Once issued, it requires another member state to arrest and transfer a criminal suspect or sentenced person to the issuing state so that the person can be put on trial or complete a detention period. It is a simplified cross-border judicial surrender method, and has replaced the lengthy extradition procedures that used to exist between member states. The EAW has been in force since 1 January 2004 in all Member States.[1]

An EAW issued by one of the Member States is valid in the entire territory of the EU. The mechanism is based on the principle of mutual recognition.[1] An EAW can be issued only for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution (not merely an investigation), or for enforcing a custodial sentence.[2] It can be issued only for offences carrying a minimum penalty of one year or more in prison. Where the sentence has already been passed, an EAW can be issued only if the prison term to be enforced is at least four months long.

Considering the severe consequences an EAW can have, it should always be proportional to its aim. This means that the judicial authority issuing an EAW should always carry out a proportionality check, before deciding on whether to issue it in the first place. Such a check is carried out by considering several factors that can be used to determine whether issuing an EAW is justified.[3]

The introduction of the EAW system was intended to increase the speed and ease of extradition throughout EU countries by removing the political and administrative phases of decision-making which had characterised the previous system of extradition in Europe, and converting the process into a system run entirely by the judiciary. Since it was first implemented in 2004 the use of the EAW has risen. Member state country evaluation reports suggest that the number of EAWs issued has increased from approximately 3,000 in 2004 to 15,200 in 2009, but dropped back to 10,400 in 2013.[4]

Even though the system has reinforced the fight against organized crime, it is also considered "highly controversial" due to its potential for abuse. It, for instance, raises issues with constitutional law.[5][6][7] Moreover, human rights organizations have expressed concerns about the imprisonment of innocent persons, the disproportionality of the EAW and violations of procedural rights.[8]

  1. ^ a b European Commission (20 July 2023). "European Arrest Warrant". Retrieved 20 September 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  2. ^ "EU Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European Arrest Warrant (2002/584/JHA), Article 1(1)". European Union. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  3. ^ Cantone, Claudia (19 May 2022). "The principle of proportionality and the EAW: uneasy bedfellows?". European Law Blog. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Number of EAWs issued and resulting in effective surrender, aggregate 2005-13" (PDF). European Parliament. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ Hinarejos, A. (2007). "Recent Human Rights Developments in the EU Courts: The Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Arrest Warrant and Terror Lists". Human Rights Law Review. 7 (4): 793–811. doi:10.1093/hrlr/ngm029. The second part of this article will deal with the decision of the ECJ that the highly controversial European Arrest Warrant (EAW) does not breach the principles of legality and equality.
  6. ^ Sarmiento, D. (2007). "European Union: The European Arrest Warrant and the quest for constitutional coherence". International Journal of Constitutional Law. 6 (1): 171–183. doi:10.1093/icon/mom040. This was the case that gave the ECJ the opportunity to make an authoritative decision that would settle the EAW question, a highly controversial and delicate matter that involves structural issues pertaining to the EU, national constitutional limits, and the authority of European and national courts.
  7. ^ van der Mei, Anne Pieter (2017). "The European Arrest Warrant system: Recent developments in the case law of the Court of Justice". Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law. 24 (6): 882–904. doi:10.1177/1023263X17745804. Since its adoption, the FDEAW has been controversial, mainly because the execution of EAWs in furtherance of the mutual recognition principle may conflict with the accused or convicted person's fundamental rights. Mutual recognition is based on mutual trust or confidence. It is presumed that the criminal law authorities of other Member States comply with the right to a fair trial and other (related) fundamental rights. In practice, however, this presumption does not necessarily hold true.
  8. ^ "Overuse of the European Arrest Warrant – a threat to human rights". Council of Europe. Retrieved 20 September 2023.