HC Deb 26 October 1999 vol 336 cc824-5W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the procedure for the transfer of persons held in custody under the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (1999/C251/01); if the burden of proof will be equivalent to that required in British courts; and what is the status of this proposal. [95255]

Mr. Charles Clarke

Article 9 of the draft Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters provides that a member state requesting a criminal investigation in another member state may temporarily transfer a person in custody in its own territory to the member state carrying out the investigation to assist in that investigation. Transfer can take place only with the agreement of the competent authorities of both member states concerned, which includes agreement on the date by which the prisoner is to be returned to the requesting member state. Paragraph 3 of the Article would also enable the United Kingdom to seek the prisoner's consent to be transferred. The period of detention in the territory of the requested member state must be deducted from the period of detention that the prisoner would serve in the requesting member state.

Since the transfer is temporary and is not done for the purpose of prosecuting the prisoner in the state to which he is transferred, the question of burden of proof does not arise.

The wording of this Article of the draft Convention has been agreed by all the member states.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of requests he will receive for telecommunications intercepts following ratification of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between EU states. [95254]

Mr. Charles Clarke

It is not possible to provide a meaningful estimate of the number of requests likely to be received for the interception of telecommunications under the European Union Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters if it is agreed and ratified. The number of requests made will depend on the requirements of other member states. However, requests to intercept the telecommunications of targets in the United Kingdom will not be granted unless all the tests for issuing a warrant under the United Kingdom's domestic interception legislation have been met.

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