Commission notice

 

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Introduction
Extradition proceedings between Member States and third States are primarily regulated by a 
multi-layered combination of different legal bases: multilateral agreements (e.g. the Council 
of Europe (CoE) Conventions
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), bilateral agreements (concluded either by the EU or by 
Member States), and national laws. 
In general, extradition agreements provide for the possibility of a ‘nationality exception,’ 
meaning that contracting parties may refuse to extradite their own nationals.
Furthermore, some agreements that provide for the nationality exception imply that 
contracting parties should respect the ‘aut dedere aut judicare’ principle
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in order to prevent 
impunity concerning their own nationals
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. In general, prosecution of States’ own nationals 
can be based on the active personality principle applying to offences committed by nationals 
outside a territory of a contracting party. 
In 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) introduced in the 
Petruhhin judgment
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specific obligations for Member States that do not extradite their own 
nationals when they receive an extradition request from a third State for the prosecution of an 
EU citizen who is a national of another Member State and who has exercised his/her right to 
free movement under Article 21(1)
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of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 
(TFEU). The Petruhhin judgment is the first case where the Court of Justice held that an EU 
Member State faced with an extradition request from a third State concerning a national of 
another EU Member State is obliged to initiate a consultation procedure with the Member 
State of nationality of the EU citizen (the Petruhhin mechanism), thus giving the latter the 
opportunity to prosecute its citizens by means of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The 
specific obligations imposed on Member States that do not extradite their own nationals find 
their rationale in ensuring non-discriminatory treatment between own nationals and other EU 
citizens
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. Member States’ obligations were further specified in subsequent case-law
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. 
Moreover, the Court of Justice extended the Petruhhin mechanism to Iceland and Norway
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.
1
European Convention on Extradition (ETS No. 24) and its Additional Protocol (ETS No. 086), the Second 
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 098), the Third Additional Protocol (ETS No. 209) and the Fourth Additional 
Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition (ETS No. 212). 
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The obligation to extradite or prosecute. 
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E.g. the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy 
Community, of the one part, and the UK, of the other part, OJ L 149, 30.4.2021, p. 10, provides an explicit 
obligation concerning the ‘aut dedere aut judicare’ principle in Article 603.
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Judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 September 2016, Petruhhin, C-182/15, ECLI:EU:C:2016:630. 
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