UNITED KINGDOM STATUTORY INSTRUMENT
1993 No. 2663
EXTRADITION
The European Convention on Extradition (Fiscal Offences) Order 1993
Made 27th October 1993
Laid before Parliament 8th November 1993
Coming into force
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 27th day of October 1993
Present,
The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council
Whereas the European Convention on Extradition (“the Convention”)opened for signature by Members of the Council of Europe on 13th December 1957, entered into force for the United Kingdom on 14th May 1991:
And whereas the Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition (“the Protocol”), the terms of which are set out in Schedule 1 to this Order, was opened for signature, by Members of the Council of Europe which have signed the Convention, on 17th March 1978:
And whereas the Convention States listed in Schedule 2 to this Order are parties to the Protocol which have accepted Chapter II thereof and those States have made certain reservations and declarations, the terms of which are set out in Schedule 3 to this Order:
And whereas the Protocol provides for denunciation by means of a notification by a party to it, such denunciation to take effect six months after the date when the Secretary General of the Council of Europe receives such notification:
And whereas it is intended to ratify the Protocol and to make the reservation set out in Schedule 4 to this Order:
And whereas the reservations made by the Convention States listed in Schedule 2 to this Order and by the United Kingdom on becoming party to the Convention, which are set out in Schedules 3 and 4 respectively to the European Convention on Extradition Order 1990, are also applicable to the Protocol:
And whereas the Protocol as it will have effect in relation to the United Kingdom is in conformity with the provisions of the Extradition Act 1989 (“the 1989 Act”), in particular with the restrictions on return contained in Part II of that Act:
And whereas section 4(1) of the 1989 Act provides that where general extradition arrangements have been made, Her Majesty may by Order in Council reciting or embodying their terms, direct that the 1989 Act, so far as it relates to extradition procedures under Part III of that Act, shall apply as between the United Kingdom and the foreign State, or any foreign State, with which they have been made, subject to the limitations, restrictions, exceptions and qualifications in the Order:
Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred on Her by section 4(1) of the Extradition Act 1989 or otherwise in Her Majesty vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:–
S-1
This Order may be cited as the European Convention on...
1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the European Convention on Extradition (Fiscal Offences) Order 1993, and shall come into force on the date, to be notified in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes, on which the Protocol enters into force for the United Kingdom.
(2) This Order shall extend to the United Kingdom only.
(3) In this Order “the United Kingdom” means Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
2. The European Convention on Extradition Order 1990 shall have effect as regards a Convention State listed in Schedule 2 to this Order with the provision set out in Article 2 of the Protocol in place of Article 5 of the Convention as set out in Schedule 1 to the 1990 Order.
N. H. Nicholls
Clerk of the Privy Council
SCHEDULE 1
THE PROTOCOL
THE SECOND ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON EXTRADITION
The member States of the Council of Europe, signatory to this Protocol,
Desirous of facilitating the application of the European Convention on Extradition opened for signature in Paris on 13 December 1957 (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”) in the field of fiscal offences;
Considering it also desirable to supplement the Convention in certain other respects,
Have agreed as follows:
1CHAPTER I
Article 1
Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention shall be supplemented by the following provision:
“
This right shall also apply to offences which are subject only to pecuniary sanctions.
”
2CHAPTER II
Article 2
Article 5 of the Convention shall be replaced by the following provisions:
“
Fiscal offences
1. For offences in connection with taxes, duties, customs and exchange extradition shall take place between the Contracting Parties in accordance with the provisions of the Convention if the offence, under the law of the requested Party, corresponds to an offence of the same nature.
2. Extradition may not be refused on the ground that the law of the requested Party does not impose the same kind of tax or duty or does not contain a tax, duty, customs or exchange regulation of the same kind as the law of the requesting Party.
”
3CHAPTER III
Article 3
The Convention shall be supplemented by the following provisions:
“
Judgments in absentia
1. When a Contracting Party requests from another Contracting Party the extradition of a person for the purpose of carrying out a sentence or detention order imposed by a decision rendered against him in absentia, the requested Party may refuse to extradite for this purpose if, in its opinion, the proceedings leading to the judgment did not satisfy the minimum rights of defence recognised as due to everyone charged with criminal offence. However, extradition shall be granted if the requesting Party gives an assurance considered sufficient to guarantee to the person claimed the right to a retrial which safeguards the rights of defence. This decision will authorise the requesting Party either to enforce the judgment in question if the convicted person does not make an opposition or, if he does, to take proceedings against the person extradited.
2. When the requested Party informs the person whose extradition has been requested of the judgment rendered against him in absentia, the...
