Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is permissible for the UK under (a) the European Convention on Extradition and (b) that Convention's additional Protocols that have been ratified by the UK to require satisfactory prima facie evidence of an alleged offence before extraditing a person for that offence.

The prima facie evidence requirement for extradition requests from States which are parties to the European Convention on Extradition was removed when the Convention came into force in the UK in May 1991.

Article 26 of the Convention states that any Contracting Party may make a reservation in respect of any provision(s) of the Convention "when signing the ECE or when depositing its instrument of ratification or accession". The UK did not enter a reservation as regards Article 12, which concerns the extradition request and supporting documents, when it signed the Convention or deposited its instrument of ratification.

In addition, the Fourth Additional Protocol to the Convention, which the UK signed and ratified earlier this year, replaces the original Article 12 with a new version. Article 13 of the Protocol does not allow for any reservations to be entered in respect of most of the provisions of the Protocol (including the provision which inserts the new Article 12 into the Convention).

In any event, any reservation requiring Convention States to produce prima facie evidence would run counter to the purpose of the Convention, to improve judicial co-operation and bring fugitives to justice.