Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Amendments Nos. 19 to 22, inclusive, refer to section 22 of the European Arrest Warrants Act. This deals with the rule of specialty, which provides that a person can only be proceeded against in the issuing state for the offences for which he or she was originally surrendered. Amendment No. 22 is the main amendment while the others are of a textual nature. Amendment No. 22 inserts a new subsection (3), which contains a presumption of compliance by the issuing member state with the terms of the framework decision, in this case, that it will respect the provisions relating to specialty.

The presumption will arise where the arrested person claims the issuing state does not intend to respect that rule. The effect of the presumption is to ensure the making of such a claim will not suffice by itself. Something more will have to be offered to support the claim. The presumption of compliance provision takes account of the mutual recognition concept, which lies at the heart of the judicial co-operation provisions of the European treaties and the European arrest warrants system. It represents a working assumption that we are entitled to make about our closest partners in the European Union, namely, that they are acting in a bona fide manner in operating a framework decision. It also clarifies the threshold that needs to be met before further information must be sought from one of those states in support of a European arrest warrant the execution of which is being sought in this State.

The amendments to lines 28, 29 and 36, which are set out in amendments Nos. 19, 20 and 21, are just textual alterations. The insertion of the new subsection (3) will result in a renumbering of the subsequent subsections in section 22 of the European Arrest Warrant Act.