Authorities in Norway and Sweden will find it easier and quicker to repatriate suspected criminals under new legislation published today.
When enacted, the European Arrest Warrant (Application to Third Countries and amendment) and Extradition (Amendment) Bill 2011 will bring into force surrender agreements reached between the two countries and the EU in 2006.
A surrender agreement aims to speed up the transfer of suspects and persons in custody from one country to another.
European arrest warrants from all EU countries are currently valid in Ireland and, once the new legislation is enacted, warrants from Norway and Sweden will be valid here too.
The legislation will also cover any countries the EU makes surrender agreements with in the future.
The Bill makes amendments, mainly procedural or technical, to the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 and the Extradition Act, 1965. And it allows the Minister for Foreign Affairs, after consultation with the Minister for Justice, to make an order applying all or any of the provisions of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, to a third country where there is an EU agreement with that country.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, who published the legislation today, said the amendments would facilitate the more efficient processing of requests under both Acts.
