Queen's Speech December 2019 - Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Bill

Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Bill

The purpose of the Bill is to:

● Ensure the police have the power to arrest potentially dangerous individuals then and there, to get them off the streets and into the court system within 24 hours of arrest.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

• ●  Enabling a police officer to arrest someone they know is wanted for a serious crime that took place in a trusted country outside the UK, without having to apply to a court for a warrant first.

• ●  Ensuring that a person wanted by authorities in a trusted country for a serious crime is arrested quickly, just as they would be if they were wanted for an offence in the UK.

• ●  Preserving the role of the courts in extradition proceedings, which will be unaffected by this Bill. A wanted person will still be brought before the court within 24 hours of their arrest. But the current risk of absconding during the period between being encountered by the police and applying for a warrant will be removed.

• ●  In the event that the UK no longer had access to the European Arrest Warrant after leaving the EU, the Bill could be amended to apply to some or all EU Member States subject to parliamentary approval.

  The main elements of the Bill are:

• ●  A new power to enable the immediate arrest of an individual for a serious offence and wanted by trusted partners, in whose use of Interpol Notices and criminal justice systems we have a high level of confidence.

• ●  The power to add countries to the list of specified countries at any point, subject to parliamentary approval, if it is considered that there is a good reason to do so.

  Territorial extent and application

● The Bill’s provisions would extend and apply to the whole of the UK. Extradition and immigration policy is a reserved matter.

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Key facts

• ●  The legislation will contain safeguards to ensure that the power is only used in relation to requests sent by specified countries and for serious offences. These are countries in whose use of Interpol notices and criminal justice systems we have a high level of confidence (initially the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Lichtenstein and Switzerland are specified).

• ●  Many like-minded countries already provide the ability for the police to arrest on the basis of Interpol alerts, for example many EU member states, Norway and Switzerland.