Policing and Crime Bill

Under the European arrest warrant, British citizens can be extradited for ill defined offences that might not even constitute a crime in the UK or in many other European countries. This has been a concern since 2002, when the Home Affairs Select Committee considered this issue. The Committee said: ""We have grave concerns about the abolition of the dual criminality safeguard. The variety of criminal justice systems and of legislative provisions within the member states of the EU makes it difficult for us to be … confident … that it will be acceptable in all circumstances for a person to be extradited from the UK to face proceedings for conduct that does not constitute a criminal offence in the UK … Our sense of unease is heightened when we look at the list of 32 offences specified by article 2.2 of the framework decision ... It is apparent that these offences are defined in generic terms and are probably better described as ‘categories of offence’. As noted above, the UK Parliament has no power to amend them … We asked the Home Office what information it has about how these offences are defined in other countries. The Home Office responded that it ‘does not have detailed definitions of offences in the criminal justice systems of other EU member states’"." Amendment 152AKAC would require the Secretary of State to produce guidance on the definition of those offences listed in Schedule 2 to the Extradition Act 2003. I beg to move.