The ICC and National Extradition Law

A parallel legal system

The International Criminal Court (ICC) may request that contracting states surrender accused persons. The relationship with national extradition law is governed by the ICC Act (IStGHG) of 2002. The ICC Act and the IRG are parallel legal systems: ICC requests are governed by Sections 1 ff. IStGHG; bilateral and multilateral extradition requests are governed by the IRG.

Priority of the ICC

Under Article 90(2) of the Rome Statute, an ICC surrender request generally takes priority over a competing state extradition request where the contracting state is obliged to cooperate with the ICC. In practice, situations of competing requests have arisen — most prominently the Netanyahu/Gallant case (2024): the ICC arrest warrant against Israeli officials triggered an obligation to surrender for EU member states that collides with diplomatic considerations and national granting decisions.

The legal position in Germany

Germany has ratified the Rome Statute (BGBl. 2000 II p. 1393) and brought the ICC Act into force. In the case of an ICC surrender request, the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht, OLG) reviews admissibility under Sections 2 ff. IStGHG. The constitution-amending legislature amended Article 16(2) of the Basic Law with effect from December 2, 2000 (Act of November 29, 2000, BGBl. I p. 1633), and its second sentence now permits extradition to an international court — a step that does not apply to regular extraditions of a state's own nationals.

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