The High Court agreed to certify a point of law for a proposed appeal to the Supreme Court over which version of the European Arrest Warrant Act applies to certain surrender applications.
The question concerns warrants issued in a requesting state before 25 August 2009, when Part II of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 came into operation, but heard after that date. The amendment to section 10 removed a requirement that, in cases involving a person convicted and sentenced in the requesting state, the person must have “fled” that state before beginning or completing the sentence before surrender could be ordered.
The case involved a warrant issued and endorsed before 25 August 2009. The respondent had also been arrested, brought before the court and filed points of objection before that date. The 2009 Act contained no transitional provisions addressing warrants already issued.
At the original surrender hearing, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform argued that the amendment applied to the application. In a judgment and order dated 12 January 2010, Mr Justice Michael Peart agreed. The Minister later reconsidered that position and no longer stood over the arguments made at the hearing. The Minister consented to certification of the proposed legal question.
Justice Peart said the issue was of exceptional public importance because other warrants issued before the amendment’s commencement remained to be heard. The court certified the question of whether a post-25 August hearing on an earlier warrant must apply section 10 as though the amendment had not commenced, allowing the respondent to argue that he had not fled the requesting state before beginning or completing his sentence.
The judgment certified that question for determination by the Supreme Court. It does not record a Supreme Court decision on the issue or make a new order for surrender.