Chamber and committees

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/operational-policing/european-convention-extradition.

http://www.thecommonwealth.org/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/{56F55E5D-1882-4421-9CC1-71634DF17331}_London_Scheme.pdf.

The countries involved are:

Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, The Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Macedonia (FYR), Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Russian Federation, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The UK can also have extradition relations with parties to international conventions where the UK is also a member, which contain extradition provisions relating to specific very serious crimes. A list of the territories designated in this way (under section 193 of the Extradition Act), together with the conventions they have been designated under, can be found on the Office of Public Sector Information website. The relevant statutory instruments are 2003 No. 3334; 2004 No. 1898; 2005 Nos. 365 and 2036; 2006 No. 3451,2007 No. 2238 and 2008 No. 1589. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/.

The procedures for extradition in Scotland are very similar to those England and Wales. However, slight differences exist because of the separate legal systems and where necessary the Extradition Act 2003 makes explicit provision accounting for these differences. For example, sections 26 to 34 and sections 103 to 116 of the 2003 act provide for appeals against decisions to extradite to category 1 and category 2 territories respectively. In England and Wales an individual may be able to appeal an extradition decision to the High Court, and that decision may be appealed to the House of Lords. Extradition decisions in Scotland may be appealed to the High Court of Justiciary (the highest criminal court in Scotland), and there is no right of appeal to the House of Lords.

There is a further practical difference in respect of Scottish proceedings which occurs as a result of the provisions in the Scotland Act 1998. Under Schedule 6 of that act, a person may raise a devolution issue in respect of (among other things) a question of whether or not the exercise of functions by the Scottish Executive would be compatible with their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Decisions on devolution issues may be referred not only to the High Court of Justiciary, but also the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Section 226 of the 2003 act specifies certain of the 2003 act provisions which are limited in extent to various parts of the UK. For further information on the application of specific sections in each of the jurisdictions of the UK, reference should be made to the provisions of the act itself.

Table 1 shows the number of people within North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Falkirk who were claiming an unemployment related benefit, for each quarter since 1999. Quarterly figures are based on the average of the three months contained within the quarter. As the statistics are not seasonally adjusted, comparisons should only be made between the same two quarters.

Data on unemployment by multi-member electoral ward is not held centrally. Data on the number of people claiming Job Seeker''s Allowance (JSA) by the old ward boundaries (which existed until the 2007 local government elections) is published by the Department for Work and Pensions and can be accessed at the weblink below.

http://83.244.183.180/NESS/BEN/jsa.htm.

Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment for Requested Local Authorities, 1999-2008

Source: Office for National Statistics.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0129-01.htm

Extradition relations with category two territories, are set out in Part 2 of the Extradition Act 2003. Category 2 territories are certain, designated, non-EU countries.

Part 1 Requests (European Arrest Warrant)

The Extradition Act 2003 requires surrender of an individual under an EAW for an extradition offence. That is defined as either a crime that requires to meet the test of dual criminality or is one of the framework list offences. If it is the former, the EAW must contain a description of the facts of the criminal conduct that constitutes the offence and a legal definition. The Scottish court must be satisfied that criminal conduct if it had occurred in Scotland would be a crime known to the law of Scotland before it can be satisfied it is an extradition offence under the Extradition Act 2003. This is the dual criminality test.

If it is a framework list offence there is no requirement for such a test/conversion to be undertaken as it is recognised that across EU member states these crimes have a commonality of criminal conduct, such as murder, rape and fraud.

No evidence is required to be produced by the issuing judicial authority in support of request to surrender a person under the Extradition Act 2003.

The Scottish ministers have no role in the execution of EAWs.

Part 2 Requests

Where an extradition request is made in the approved way the Scottish ministers must issue a certificate to that effect. This certificate and certain accompanying documents are then sent to the Sheriff at Lothian and Borders in order to allow an extradition hearing to take place.

The court at the first appearance of the individual must be satisfied the Scottish ministers have sent: the extradition request, particulars of the person whose extradition is requested, particulars of the offence, and either a warrant to arrest issued in the requesting state or a certificate of conviction and sentence. If the court is not satisfied on these issues it must order the person''s discharge.

The Secretary of State has authority to designate countries for the purposes of the Extradition Act 2003.

Countries can be designated so that they are not required to produce evidence which would be sufficient to make a case requiring an answer by the person if the proceedings were summary proceedings in respect of an offence alleged to have been committed by the person (except that for this purpose evidence from a single source shall be sufficient). If the country is not so designated then evidence is required to be produced.

All offences alleged to be committed in a Part 2 territory require to satisfy the dual criminality test. If they do not, the court must order the person''s discharge.