Louca v German Judicial Authority

Louca v German Judicial Authority is an English criminal appeal, originating in the High Court and ending in the Supreme Court in 2009.

Facts

Section 2(2)(a) of the Extradition Act 2003 provides that, “A Part 1 warrant is an arrest warrant which is issued by a judicial authority of a category 1 territory and which contains… the information referred to in subsection (4)…”

Section 2(4)(b) of the 2003 Act provides that, “The information is… (b) particulars of any other warrant issued in the category 1 territory for the person’s arrest in respect of the offence…”

Mr Locua argued that Section 2(2)(a) and (4)(b) of the Extradition Act 2003 meant it was unlawful to extradite him under an EAW which did not refer to all the previous EAWs.

Judgment

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal. Lord Mance gave the judgment of the court with Lords Hope, Rodger, Collinns and Kerr concurring.

Lord Mance started by referring to the governing sections of the Extradition Act 2003 which were to be found in Part 1 of the Act (which deals with European Arrest Warrants) and went on to look at the Council Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant issued by the European Union which was implemented in the United Kingdom via Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003. National courts are under an obligation to interpret national law as far as possible in the light of the wording and purpose of the framework decision in order to attain the result which it pursues. In particular, Lord Mance looked at Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 8(1) as well as sections (b) and (f) of the annexed modern European Arrest Warrant. In particular, Article 8(1)(c) provides that, “The European arrest warrant shall contain the following information… (c) evidence of an enforceable judgment, an arrest warrant or any other enforceable judicial decision having the same effect, coming within the scope of Articles 1 and 2…”.