Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway on the surrender procedure between the Member States of the European Union and Iceland and Norway

The intention behind this Agreement between the Member States, Iceland and Norway is to speed up the transfer of suspects and persons in custody, via a surrender system, and to ensure sufficient controls on the execution of arrest warrants.

The agreement is aimed at improving the surrender procedure for the purpose of prosecution or execution of sentence between, on the one hand, the Member States and, on the other hand, Norway and Iceland, by taking account of, as minimum standards, the terms of the Convention of 27 September 1996 relating to extradition between the Member States of the EU. In accordance with the provisions of the agreement, the contracting parties will ensure that the extradition system will be based on a mechanism of surrender pursuant to an arrest warrant. An arrest warrant may be issued for acts punishable by the law of the issuing state by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least 12 months or, where a sentence has been passed or a detention order has been made, for sentences of at least four months.

Following the opening of negotiations with Iceland and Norway with a view to extending to these countries the provisions of the 1996 EU Convention on Extradition which are not linked to Schengen, the mission statement was updated in 2002 after it was agreed that extradition within the EU would be replaced by a surrender procedure under the European arrest warrant. Despite the decision not to link the European arrest warrant to Schengen, the Council agreed that it would be useful to apply the surrender procedure model to the Schengen countries, given their privileged partnership with the EU Member States.