The Supreme Court has held that more than one European arrest warrant may be presented for the surrender of the same person where the warrants concern sentences already imposed after conviction.
The ruling came in an appeal brought by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform concerning Jaroslav Piotr Gotszlik. Two warrants had originally been issued for him by the District Court in Ilawa, Poland. One had been withdrawn by the Polish issuing authority before the Supreme Court hearing.
Ms Justice Macken, agreeing with Ms Justice Denham, said it was still appropriate to address the wider legal point because the court had been told similar cases were pending in the High Court.
The court found that section 22 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 could apply where multiple warrants were presented. Under the Interpretation Act 2005, a statutory reference to a singular "warrant" ordinarily also includes the plural unless the context requires otherwise.
Macken J. said this interpretation preserved the rule of specialty. That rule protects a surrendered person from being dealt with for certain earlier offences outside those covered by the surrender arrangements.
The court also examined the EU Framework Decision underpinning the European arrest warrant system. It found no requirement that every conviction concerning a person must be combined into a single warrant. Different courts or other designated judicial authorities within one member state may have jurisdiction to issue warrants.
The judgment stressed that European arrest warrants are issued by competent judicial authorities rather than simply by states as a whole. That structure meant more than one authority could potentially issue warrants for the same person.
The ruling was expressly confined to cases involving two or more warrants seeking surrender so that sentences already imposed following conviction can be served.
The Supreme Court allowed the Minister's appeal and set aside the High Court order. It found no basis for preventing surrender merely because more than one warrant had issued from one or more judicial authorities within the same EU member state.