Today, the European Commission decided to refer Poland and Sweden to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to comply with the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States (Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA).
In February 2021, the Commission sent a first letter of formal notice to Sweden. After analyzing the response, the Commission found that Sweden failed to correctly transpose the provisions allowing the issuing judicial authority to request a hearing or temporarily transfer the person pending the surrender decision. Thus, in February 2024, the Commission sent an additional letter of formal notice to Sweden. However, the Commission still deemed Swedens transposition inadequate and issued a reasoned opinion in October 2024.
In December 2020, the Commission sent a first letter of formal notice to Poland. Upon reviewing the response, the Commission noted that some issues remained unresolved and sent an additional letter of formal notice to Poland in July 2023. Nevertheless, the Commission still found that Poland did not correctly transpose the provisions concerning mandatory and optional grounds for refusal, the guarantees to be provided by the issuing Member State in specific cases, the status pending the decision, and the transit. Consequently, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Poland in April 2024.
The Commission considers that the efforts made by national authorities have been insufficient thus far and is therefore referring Poland and Sweden to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Background
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is a simplified cross-border judicial procedure for the surrender of a requested person for prosecution or execution of a custodial sentence or detention order. Operational since January 1, 2004, the EAW has replaced lengthy extradition procedures that existed between EU Member States.
More Information
Infringement decisions database and infringements map and graphs
Infringement procedure Poland (INFR(2020)2308)
Infringement procedure Sweden (INFR(2020)2362)