On Tuesday 29 July, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down a ruling on arrest warrants issued by the United Kingdom (case C-202/24). The aim was to clarify the conditions under which these warrants can be executed in EU Member States, post-Brexit.
An individual against whom four arrest warrants have been issued by a Northern Ireland district judge for terrorism-related offences has challenged his surrender in the Supreme Court of Ireland, citing an adverse change in UK parole rules after the alleged commission of the offences.
As a reminder, since the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, the execution of these warrants has been governed by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). This agreement is different from the mechanism provided for in the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant. In this context, the CJEU ruled that the judicial authorities of the Member States must carry out an independent examination of the risk of infringement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union when the person concerned alleges such a risk in the event of surrender to the United Kingdom.
For the CJEU, despite the exclusion of a risk of violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the judicial authorities of the Member States must independently examine the risk of violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter. If this risk is established on the basis of reliable and detailed evidence, the surrender may be refused.
See the judgment of the Court of Justice: https://aeur.eu/f/d5v (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)