Extradition Act 2003

Extradition Act 1873
Extradition Act 1873
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the Extradition Act, 1870.
Citation	36 & 37 Vict. c. 60
Dates
Royal assent	5 August 1873
Other legislation
Amends	Extradition Act 1870
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013
Status: Repealed

Extradition Act 1989
Extradition Act 1989
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to consolidate enactments relating to extradition under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 and the Extradition Acts 1870 to 1935, with amendments to give effect to recommendations of the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.
Citation	1989 c. 33
Dates
Royal assent	27 July 1989
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Extradition Act 1870; Extradition Act 1895 ; Extradition Act 1906 ; Extradition Act 1932 ; Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 ;
Repealed by	Extradition Act 2003
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Extradition Act 2003
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision about extradition.
Citation	2003 c. 41
Dates
Royal assent	20 November 2003
Commencement	1 January 2004
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965 ; Extradition Act 1989;
Amended by	Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 ; Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Act 2020 ;
Status: Amended
Records of Parliamentary debate relating to the statute from Hansard, at TheyWorkForYou
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Extradition Act 2003 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Last updated August 30, 2025

Extradition Act 1870
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for amending the Law relating to the Extradition of Criminals.
Citation	33 & 34 Vict. c. 52
Dates
Royal assent	9 August 1870
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Extradition Act 1843 Extradition (No. 2) Act 1843 Extradition Act 1845 Extradition Act 1862 Extradition Act 1866
Amended by	Extradition Act 1873 Statute Law Revision Act 1883
Repealed by	Extradition Act 1989
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Extradition Act 2003 (c. 41) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates extradition requests by and to the United Kingdom. The Act came into force on 1 January 2004. It transposed the European Arrest Warrant framework decision into British law and implemented the UK side of the controversial UK–US extradition treaty of 2003 before the treaty came into force in April 2007 after being ratified by the United States Senate in 2006.^[1]^[2]

Provisions

The act is divided into five parts.

Parts 1 and 2 deal with "category 1" and "category 2" territories respectively. While it is not mentioned in the Act, category 1 territories are all other member states of the European Union and Part 1 of the Act is the United Kingdom's implementation of the European Arrest Warrant framework decision. Part 2 of the Act is concerned with extradition to all other countries which have an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom.
Part 3 deals with issuing European Arrest Warrants from the UK and extradition requests.
Part 4 regulates powers of arrest, search and seizure regarding individuals subject to European Arrest Warrants and extradition warrants.
Part 5 contains miscellaneous provisions including extradition to and from British overseas territories.

The procedure used by the courts is set down in the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015, part 50.^[3]

Examination by Parliament

The act has been examined in two reviews by Parliament. The first in 2011 by Sir Scott Baker ^[4] making a series of recommendations and the second examination by the House of Lords Extradition Law Committee in 2014.^[5]

As a result of campaigning and scrutiny by Parliament, several amendments were made in 2014 in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. These included proportionality under section 21A and decision to try or charge under section 12A.^[6]

Part 2 territories

Territories are designated as Category 2 territories both for the purposes of Part 2 of the Extradition Act, i.e. export extradition from the United Kingdom, and Part 3, i.e. import extradition to the United Kingdom.

These are the countries that the UK presently has extradition arrangements with:^[7]^[8]

Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
The Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Cook Islands
Cuba
Dominica
Ecuador
El Salvador
Fiji
The Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Haiti
Iceland
India
Iraq
Israel
Jamaica
Kenya
Kiribati
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Macedonia
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Nauru
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Norway
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Philippines
Peru
The Republic of Korea
Russian Federation
Saint Christopher and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
San Marino
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Swaziland
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
USA
Vanuatu
Western Samoa
Zambia
Zimbabwe

References

↑ Human Rights Joint Committee (22 June 2011). "The UK's bilateral extradition treaties: US-UK Extradition Treaty 2003". The Human Rights Implications of UK Extradition Policy. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
↑ Torres, Carlos (30 September 2006). "Senate Unanimously Ratifies US, UK Extradition Treaty". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 12 September 2008. Ratification had been slowed by complaints from some Irish- American groups that the treaty would create new legal jeopardy for U.S. citizens who opposed British policy in Northern Ireland.
↑ "Rules and Practice Directions". www.justice.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
↑ "Review" (PDF). gov.uk. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
↑ "Extradition Law Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
↑ "Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
↑ This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence v3.0: "Annex C: Extradition with Territories outside the European Union". Archived from the original on 30 November 2016.
↑ "Extradition: processes and review". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

External links

cps.gov.uk - the Crown Prosecution Service guidelines on extradition to Category 2 territories
The UK government guidance on extradition from Category 2 territories

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Human Rights Joint Committee (22 June 2011). "The UK's bilateral extradition treaties: US-UK Extradition Treaty 2003". The Human Rights Implications of UK Extradition Policy. Retrieved 8 August 2012.

[2] Torres, Carlos (30 September 2006). "Senate Unanimously Ratifies US, UK Extradition Treaty". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 12 September 2008. Ratification had been slowed by complaints from some Irish- American groups that the treaty would create new legal jeopardy for U.S. citizens who opposed British policy in Northern Ireland.

[3] "Rules and Practice Directions". www.justice.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

[4] "Review" (PDF). gov.uk. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2019.

[5] "Extradition Law Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

[6] "Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

[7] This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence v3.0: "Annex C: Extradition with Territories outside the European Union". Archived from the original on 30 November 2016.

[8] "Extradition: processes and review". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 October 2019.

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