§ Lord Monsonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will undertake to refuse to endorse the proposed European arrest warrant unless it is:
- (a) restricted to crimes which command a sentence of three years imprisonment or more;
- (b) made inadmissible in respect of crimes allegedly committed by a country's citizens within the jurisdiction of their own country but where that country's authorities have declined to prosecute. [HL1568]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Rooker)The Government believe that the threshold for the European arrest warrant should be a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment. If the prosecuting authorities in the issuing state had decided not to prosecute someone in their own country, then any subsequent decision to prosecute the same person in seeking their return from abroad by means of a European arrest warrant would be governed by national law in the issuing state. If the issuing state makes a request for the return of someone on a European arrest warrant, and the judicial authorities of the executing state have decided not to prosecute for the offence in which the European arrest warrant is based, then, as currently drafted, the framework decision makes provision for the executing judicial authority to refuse to execute the European arrest warrant.