EU approves agreements with U.S. on extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters
With Decision 2003/516/EC, the European Union Council has authorized the signature of two agreements with the U.S. on extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. The negotiations for these agreements began last year after a Council Decision of April 26, 2002, and the agreements were signed in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2003.
Annexed to the Decision are the two respective agreements, the "Agreement on extradition between the European Union and the United States of America," and the "Agreement on mutual legal assistance between the European Union and the United States of America."
The Agreement on extradition provides for extradition in cases where the crime at issue is punishable in both the EU and the U.S. with at least one year imprisonment (Article 4). Requests for provisional arrests may be made directly between the Ministries of Justice of the requesting and the requested States, as an alternative to the diplomatic channel. Interpol may also be used to transmit such requests (Article 6). If a requesting State receives several extradition requests for the same person, it may choose the State to which to extradite the person, considering factors such as where the offense was committed, the nationality of the victim, and chronological order of the extradition requests received (Article 10). If the crime is punishable by death in the requesting State, the requested State may extradite on condition that the death penalty will not be imposed (Article 13).
Attached to the Agreement is an Explanatory Note that explains that Article 10 is not intended to affect the obligations of the State Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and that the Agreement does not preclude the conclusion of bilateral extradition agreements between the U.S. and EU Member States.
The Agreement on mutual legal assistance provides for enhanced cooperation and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters by permitting the exchange of bank information which may not be refused on grounds of bank secrecy (Article 4), joint investigative teams (Article 5), video conferencing (Article 6), and expedited transmission of requests (Article 7). The Agreement also provides for mutual legal assistance between administrative authorities that are investigating criminal conduct (Article 8).
The attached Explanatory Note states that EU assistance to (non-federal) local authorities of the U.S. may be granted within the discretion of the requested EU Member State (see Article 8). The Note also clarifies that refusal of assistance on data protection grounds may only be invoked in exceptional cases (see Article 9). Finally, as for the Agreement on extradition, the Agreement does not preclude the conclusion of bilateral mutual assistance agreements between the U.S. and EU Member States.
Citation: Council Decision 2003/516/EC, 2003 O.J. of the European Union (L 181) 25, 19 July 2003.
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