The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is the seminal instrument in the field of EU judicial cooperation in criminal matters. It is widely used and has proved to be an efficient tool in accelerating the execution of warrants and surrender procedures in cross-border criminal cases within the EU. At the same time, the EAW still poses a number of issues – mostly related to fundamental rights protection – that Member States find difficult to accommodate in their respective legal systems and especially towards their obligation to respect fundamental rights. It is in this context that the course will map out the operational success of the EAW and discuss the fundamental rights concerns, in particular regarding detention conditions and fair trials rights, pertinent to the application of the EAW.

To objective of the course is to make legal practitioners aware of the current challenges that not only affect the daily administration of surrender procedures, but erode the basic premise of cooperation based on mutual trust and mutual recognition. Participants will understand:

what steps to take if concerns over detention conditions arise in the course of administering an EAW;
how to deal with an issuing authority if its judicial nature is in doubt or its independence is questionable;
how to accommodate EAWs with a view to requests from third countries, parallel and previous procedures.
The course is especially interesting for legal practitioners working in the field of criminal law, dealing with cross-border criminal cases, but is also of relevance to those having a particular interest in the EU Area of Freedom Security and Justice, based on the principles of mutual recognition and mutual trust.

The course is based on short presentations complemented with practice-oriented discussions led by experts who have an in-depth understanding of the EAW. Departing from the very rich case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the course will focus on practical issues arising in the daily administration of the EAW.

What will you learn:

Participants will acquire a sound understanding of:

the latest issues in relation to the issuing and CJEU, and why detention conditions are decisive to the sound execution of an EAW;
what is the room for manoeuvre to refuse the execution of an EAW in case of systemic deficiencies in the issuing EU MS;
how the intra-EU EAW system affects extradition requests from non-EU states.