Details
- Publication date
- 20 July 2023
- Author
- Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Description
This Commission staff working document sets out quantitative information on the practical operation of the European arrest warrant ('EAW') in 2021. The statistics are based on information provided by the Member States to the Commission between May 2022 and June 2022, using the standard questionnaire contained in Council document 11356/13 of 24 June 2013.
The questionnaire covers quantitative information from Member States acting both as issuing States and as executing States. This consists of data on a number of points including the number of EAWs issued and executed, the number of persons arrested, the types of offences covered, the reasons for refusal and the duration of the surrender proceedings.
Only general conclusions can be drawn from the received replies, because they do not provide a complete set of data. Not all Member States replied to every question in the questionnaire and the response rates have varied over the years, making statistical comparisons sometimes difficult.
In particular, it should be highlighted that:
• the main indicators on the number of initiated proceedings, arrests, and effective surrender procedures have been rather stable (i.e. the ratio between these indicators has been relatively constant over the last few years);
• it appears that some Member States do not always take the decision on whether or not to execute an EAW within the time limits set by the Framework Decision, thus failing to comply with their obligations;
• some surrender procedures are taking longer, possibly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Article 4(6) of the Framework Decision – which covers the point when the executing State takes over the execution of a sentence – triggers the highest percentage of refusals to execute EAWs by comparison with other mandatory and optional grounds for refusal, as provided under Articles 3, 4 and 4a of the Framework Decision.
These conclusions broadly confirm the main trends already identified in 2020.