US, EU put into effect legal cooperation, extradition agreements
Department of Justice
(WASHINGTON) - The United States and European Union have put into effect agreements on extradition and legal cooperation negotiated after the September 11 attacks, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The five-year agreements include a US agreement not to seek the death penalty for suspects extradited by any EU member state.
"The agreements will further strengthen common efforts in the fight against terrorism and transnational crime by enabling the use of modern tools of cooperation between US and EU Member States' authorities," the department said in a statement.
A total of 56 new agreements were negotiated by EU member states and the United States, and then ratified. US Attorney General Eric Holder and Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask, representing the EU presidency, signed the final accords in late October 2009.
On extradition, the agreement "replaces lists of offenses that are deemed extraditable with a modern dual criminality standard; contains measures to streamline the exchange of information and transmission of documents; sets rules for determining priority in competing requests for surrender of a fugitive; and contains a provision allowing extradition to be conditioned on non-application of the death penalty," the department explained.
On the legal cooperation front, the agreement aims to streamline information exchanges in criminal investigations and trials, it added.
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