§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they expect the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons to come into force, and which members of the Council of Europe have so far failed to sign or to ratify this convention.
§ Lord EltonThe convention will come into force on the first day of the month following the expiry of a period of three months after the date on which three482WA member states of the Council of Europe have ratified it. No state has yet ratified the convention, but we have reason to expect that a sufficient number of states will, like the United Kingdom, have completed the necessary legislative and administrative preparations within the next few months and will then proceed to ratification. It is therefore possible that the convention may come into force around the middle of next year.
The following member states have not yet signed the convention: Iceland, Malta, Norway, Republic of Ireland and Turkey.